


Retribution

by NotNormal21



Series: The Devon Trilogy [1]
Category: Call of Duty (Video Games)
Genre: Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-31
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-05-16 14:54:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 41,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14813532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotNormal21/pseuds/NotNormal21
Summary: Thirty years ago, her grandfather ignited the Succession Wars.The results?Complete autonomy of Mars and the recognition of the Settlement Defense Front as a legitimate government entity. Everyone during the SDF’s control was expected to do their duty against the forces of Earth. They were expected to only do their duty and generally not cause a disturbance within the Front itself.But, for SCAR Lieutenant, Devon Kotch, fitting in was never her specialty. Not on Mars where she grew up nor on Earth where she defected. Her last name caused scorn wherever she went.But when the Settlement Defense Front attacks the heart of the UNSA during their annual Fleet Week Parade and the Charon Accord tossed into the fire, Devon must put aside her differences to fight for the place she now calls home and against those she once called comrades.If not, the consequences will be deadly.





	1. Prologue

Salen’s walk was briskly as he made his way the conference room. He seemed he was in a hurry, as his stride was wide and quick, preferring not to keep the others waiting. He had summoned by high council, for what he did not know. Perhaps for a debrief on their operation Europa, of their success, and of how the newest addition to the 8th Orbital had faired in the fight over the moon’s icy surface. He smiled to himself as the battle was replayed in his mind. It had been quick, the forces at the bases had put up little resistance. It was better that way, they didn’t have to waste so many bullets. Even with the Front’s infinite resources, bullets were still a precious commodity. He hadn’t been the least bit surprised when radar had picked up on the Raven with a few sorry souls onboard. He was almost offended at the small team sent in to secure the prototype. But, he knew better than to underestimate the small team.

The halls were moderately populated with various members of the Front’s armed forces. Many gathered at the windows to watch the procession with boundless optimism and pride. He smirked as each person he passed quickly snapped to the position of the attention and saluted him. He returned the salute with one arm behind his back. The large windows provided a sweeping view of the Capital below and the red sand landscape beyond to the south. The building was near the lip of the Valles Mariner Trench, giving him or any beholder a view of the rest of the city below. It made Salen beam with pride whenever he could observe the city from up high. He knew it fed his ego as his puffed out some but was carefully to keep it in check. Even here on Mars, pride was sin that could kill if on wasn’t careful. The windows themselves were the same they deployed on all of their warships, transports, and skelters. It was resistant to cracks and took some force to shatter them.

The walls were made with reenforced steel and concrete and had several layers of lead to keep out the high amounts of radiation the sun put out. Inside, the walls are lined with a metal hard enough withstand a direct hit a fighter but light enough that I wouldn’t crumbled the foundation. It was a hard balance. The floors were made of low-maintenance linoleum, though it looked high end due to constant cleaning the workers ensured. It was hard keeping out all the red sand and dust that was tracked in, despite all the different places-both outside and inside-where one could pounding the dust out of the treads of their shoes and shake from their clothes. Floor buffers were run over the floor several times a day to keep them polished and looking new. The Council was meticulous about the building being clean, he didn’t know why other than to keep up with appearances and to give the labor something to do other than being resource leaches. Above him, the air filtration system kicked into overdrive, hard at working stripping the air of Carbon dioxide that would suffocate their lungs given the chance and leaving only the nitrogen-oxygen mixture they could survive on. They didn’t live in a “dome city” like in the disgustingly romanticized in Earthen films, they merely had a section of their entryway to depressurize. It was simpler and didn’t strain on their resources.

Outside, skelters zipped by the building in regular intervals during patrol runs, their engines warping the windows with its thunderous vibration as they made sure that if there was an attack on the Martian Capital, the State building would be protected long enough to get High Command and High Council out and far enough to safety. The celebration of the end of the Great War continued as more and more of their warships floated over the city, each of them announced in quick succession. Their fleets were twice the size of Earth’s it was a point pride within the SDF and its colonies. They knew if war broke out-as they had prepared for since the ending of the Succession Wars-they would easily crush their enemy. Salen continued his way to the end of the corridor, his steps wide and sure. He carried himself like a man that owned the world-no, the system.

‘ _As it should be.’_ he thought to himself. The conference room was situated at the end of the corridor, the door positioned next to another floor to ceiling window. Outside the door, stood two soldiers and he could clearly make out the black Intracore uniform and patch. This must be a serious matter if Intracore members were standing guard and could quite possibly mean that Derhachov was waiting inside. Their uniforms were all black and based off the overall design of every unit. But, they weren’t as bulky, allowing them to move about quietly and quicker without it getting caught on something or restricting their movements. They were always armed with a primary, two secondaries, and several other weapons. Like all units they had a patch, but where other units had inspired courage and pride, Intracore’s inspired fear and compliance. Their patch was circular and black like the rest of their uniform but was lined with a deep red trim to distinguish it from the rest of the uniform. Their crest had the SDF’s seal in the middle with a combat knife going through the top and coming out the middle. The design was similar to Earth’s British SAS except there was no banner with the motto floating around the knife. Instead the motto- _faciam quodlibet quod nemeses est_ -ringed the inside edges of the trim.

They were meant to keep those in line that would see to fracture themselves from the regime and-in times of war-acted as shadow warriors. They were easily the most feared and less known of any of the Front’s battleforces. They did not hesitate to use brute force when necessary and techniques that the foolish Earthlings would cry “Crimes Against Humanity” against. For Intracore, if what they were doing yielded results and helped to further Mars, then they would do it. There was no line for them to cross because they had crossed it at its conception nearly thirty years ago. The small group was well versed in interrogation tactics and did whatever it took to deter those under the regime from defecting or causing trouble. They were the dark cloud that fell over the city and the figure that clung to the shadows. No one wanted to come to face to face with any of its members. Doing so, was looking Death in the eyes. Even an man into his thirties and the Admiral of the Front’s largest fleet, he still found them intimidating. The two stationed at the door did nothing to acknowledge him and stood still as statues. But, he could feel their analyzing gaze, testing to see even if he, one of the most loyal members of the regime would step even a millimeter out of line. Salen knew they looked for every chance to put their training to good use, even on him.

He turned the door’s cold metal knob and pushed the door open to the conference room.Waiting for him at the other end of the room was the High Council and several key members of the Intracore leadership. The conference room was like other parts of the building. The walls were made of the same metal and durable windows. Shutters were built into the windows’ frame to provide privacy or protection in the event of a strike. The room was also insulated so anyone not authorized could not listen in on the meeting for information or gauge for who was in attendance. On the opposite side of the room from Salen was a screen that took up most the wall, meant to video in anyone that couldn’t make the meeting in person. On either side of the screen were The Front’s national flag and guidon for Intracore. In the middle of the room, was a long dark metal table with chairs lined on either side and at both ends of the table. The chairs were made of the same dark metal as the table and bad a thin cushion on the seat and on the back rest. It was comfortable, but it made sitting in them for long periods of time bearable. But, to the Front, being too comfortable lead to complacency, and complacency lead to failure. That was something they could not stand for. They were the rightful rulers of the sol system and failure was not an option. In the middle of the table was a speaker system that allowed for anyone to call in and on either end were trays with glasses of water.

Emeritus Aaron Thesis called him over to where the others were gathered. It only took three long and confident strides to reach the group. Everyone in the group was dressed in their dress uniform and decked out in full regalia. When Salen reached the group, Thesis asked for a report on Europa. He gave them the breakdown: UNSA Black Site was looted of all intel and prototypes including blueprints for the F-SpAr Cannon. Any resistance by the UNSA stationed there as well as the SCAR team sent to destroy the prototype were defeated.

“The cannon is being replicated and attached to the Olympus Mons on our base on Enceladus as we speak.” Salen informed.

“Replicated?” Emeritus Fahir Emin asked as he raised an eyebrow. Salen nodded.

“A three man team from the UNSA’s SCAR unit infiltrated the black site and destroyed the prototype.” he said. “But, not before we acquired the blueprints. They were immediately sent to Eurion.” Salen also tells them code RIAH is being put into action. Emeritus’ all nod their heads in unison. Salen looked over to Vice Admiral Derhachov with his eyes patch sharp face. He asks why he is there. Derhachov pressed a button on the table and brought up a photo. He glared at the picture. It wasn’t from their file but the UNSA’s. It was official looking, possibly for a personnel file or ID card. The subject was in the SATO flight suit, the hard plastic chest piece with the SATO logo printed dead center over her heart. Peaking out on her left arm, was the SCAR patch-the UNSA’s special forces. Salen did take satisfaction in the amount scars that littered her right side of her face and the cloudy appearance of her eye. He turned to survey the men before him as they issued him the target. Her photo has been issue to every soldier taking part in operation from C6s to skelter pilots and even the cannon crews. She was a target, second only to acquiring the AATIS Guns and destroying Earth’s Fleet and she was to be captured alive, though not unharmed.

“A small squad of Intracore members will be the ones to capture her.” Derhachov informed him. “The photo’s distribution is alert our forces to be on the look out for her and report her location to the team. Once she is captured, she will transported to the Olympus Mons when you make the jump and take straight to Mars for interrogation.” Salen walked up to the screen and studied the photo in disgust. He felt it inside him that they would finally have her, after all of the injustices and treason she committed. He felt someone walked up behind and glanced over his shoulder. He found his father, the head of the High Council, standing behind him.

“We want her alive, Salen.” he warned. Salen turned around fully to face him and nodded a confirmation. Salen told him they would get her. His father told he needs to as the only way the UNSA will succeed is if she is still with them. Salen nodded again. He spared one more glance at the photo before saluting and leaving the room.


	2. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forgot to post this: but this story is also on Wattpad. SO if you see it there as well that is I as well.

Devon bolted upright in bed with a gasp as she snatched her gun from under her pillow. She swept the gun back and forth steadily as her eyes scanned her tiny apartment, thinking he was there. Her breathing was ragged and her eyes wide as the tendril of the nightmare kept themselves anchored in her mind, like a ship that didn’t want to leave port. Once she realized she was alone, she began to calm herself. She was covered in a thin sheen of sweat that soaked through her top and made the mundane bedsheets stick to any exposed skin. Devon took deep breaths as she peeled the covers from her body and swung her legs over the side of the bed, bracing herself on the edge. This was third in as many days her brother had haunted her dreams and it wasn’t something she was taking lightly. Somewhere deep inside her, something tugged at her, warning that something was going to happen. It wasn’t a feeling she liked very well. She hadn’t had a nightmare like that for a long time, not since her first nights under quarantine. Usually, they were veiled and empty threats with no meaning, meant to remind of her the constant anger to herself and those around her. But, this one, had something to it, what it was she couldn’t figure out. Though, the nightmare left her with an impending sense of dread and put her senses on high alert.

  
She took a gulp of air and surveyed her apartment. Her mind was still wired and alert as the shadows of the nightmare still floated around in her consciousness. It was bare with only the essentials for furniture: a bed, nightstand and a small dinning table pushed into the corner with only a chair for company. She didn’t even have a dresser, preferring to keep everything hanging in the closet on the other side of the room. There were no pictures hanging on her walls, no mementos or even awards for her to proudly display. Not that she would anyways, with a majority of her awards reminding her of the atrocities she committed in the name of a different regime. She didn’t want to remember, there were plenty of other people doing that for her.

  
She heard yelling outside her window from workers as they went about setting up Geneva for Fleet Week, one of them yelling something about reposition a banner. A screech drowned them out as someone tested the city wide loud speakers, taping and blowing into the mike. Devon winced when they screeched again. Earth’s way of celebrating was much different from how the Front did. For one, Geneva was decorated not with banners of propaganda but merely with the UNSA and SATO symbols. There were other banners of bright colors that lined the river that separated the city into two halves, serving as guide for the agile warships. There would be risers and stages set up for the spectators that would flock to the city, cheering and celebrating what they had considered a victory even though it wasn’t. Devon hardly thought it the time for celebrating, not with this nightmare winding her tighter than a spring.

  
She had scoffed at the way they celebrated the ending of the Succession Wars, even after being on Earth three years. She still remembered her first Fleet Week, still stuck in the damn hospital bed. The nurse had babbled on and on about how she had the best seats of any of the patients there to watch as each of the UNSA’s warships floated by. Earth didn’t even have half as many warships in their arsenal as the Front did and were vastly out numbered in manpower. She had grumbled about it to the nurse that if SetDef really wanted to end them, they’d attack during Fleet Week, when all their warships were parade floats. The nurse had merely given her a small smile and told her they were busy with their own celebration on the red planet. Devon had sneered at the remark like an old woman.

  
Devon glanced at the digital clock and knew she would need to get up and ready for the festivities, however much she didn’t want to go. She heaved herself up and limbered the short distance to her bathroom. The bathroom, much like the rest of the apartment was compact and bare, holding only the bare essentials. She had saw no need to decorate, it was a waste of time and energy that could be put towards training or something else of equal productiveness. The walls and floors were a stained off white color as the previous occupants hadn’t seen fit to clean it regularly. Devon was a finicky person and constantly cleaned anything and everything from her apartment to her jackal. If she didn’t, something would go wrong and at the worst possible moment. Situated in the far corner was a paltry shower and across was the sink and cabinet, the only item that held a color other than white. Above the sink was a metal medicine cabinet with a mirror on its front. Devon took the two strides from the doorway to the shower and turned to knob so the water ran cold. She still acted like she was in the SetDef when it came to luxuries like a warm shower and comfy bed. She saw those things as frivolous and a hindrance to her training. It had been engrained into her mind since childhood that said things were unnecessary and as such were not used.

  
After turning the shower knob, she turned back to the doorway where she had installed the pull-bar. It was part of her daily routine since she started her military service at a young age to do some kind of work-out after wake-up, whether it be push-ups, sit-ups, squats, or pull-ups. When she was planet-side, she did all four exercises, another carry-over form her days in SetDef. Just because she was on Earth and far from the clutches of her family, didn’t mean she could be lax when it came to physical fitness. After doing her customary pull-ups, she stripped herself of her shorts and tank top before stepping under the cold spray. Cold showers tended to shake off the lingering effects of the nightmares and helped to alleviate stress, contrary to what the others thought. Hot showers were a luxury on Mars and she almost never got them. She liked the cold anyways, it kept her alert and miserable. This shower was miserable but did little in the way of shaking the shackles of the nightmares from her limbs and her mind. It didn’t last long, but long enough for her to do a quick scrub of her body and hair before jerking the knob to close the spray. She didn’t want to linger as he mind would start tracing all the scars that ran like a busy highway over her body. They were relics of time when she stood in-line with another set beliefs, another mind set. If her mind lingered too long on any of them, she would jerked back into an unpleasant memory. But, she couldn’t collapse now, not every. She refused to give them the satisfaction of breaking her, even in private.

  
Devon cautiously stepped out of the shower and surveyed for any tiny detail that might alert her to an intruder. She knew it would be too bold for them to enter her apartment and take her there, but that didn’t mean they hadn’t thought of it. Once she was certain she was alone, grabbed the scratchy cheap towel from the hook, wrapped it tightly around her torso, and treaded over to the vanity. One of the perks of taking a cold shower, was that there was no fog to wipe off the mirror. Though, the downside was she was faced immediately with her reflection. Her face was oval but harsh. Any softness or femininity had been worn away by years of training, hardships, and military service. She was all rough edges now, with sharp corners that tear someone apart. She flinched every time she saw herself, her face heavily scarred on the right side and it sprayed out form there. Her right eye did not match her left, a cloud of grey obscuring the color. Her ebony hair was cut short like a male in regulation, it didn’t touch her ears nor her collar.

  
Devon shook her head as she finished drying herself and exited her bathroom. Directly across, was a small kitchen across. Like everything else in her life, it was just the bare bones, not frills and the essentials. Even her coffee machine was simple, old by the standards of what they kept on Retribution as it still used a paper filter and the amount of coffee and water had to be measured out by hand. She liked doing things herself, still made her feel save when things were within her control. On Retribution, the coffee was made easier, with pre-measured small cups of coffee grounds and the size of the cup being measure with the push of a button. Even the SDF had these onboard their ships and in any office areas. It was seen as time efficient and didn’t take away from the overall object. Devon reached over the back wall where the large coffee sat and popped the lid as the jar filled with tap water. It was quick work for her to dump a few scoops of coffee grounds into the filter and shut it close before putting the tin back into its original spot. By this time, the jar had filled to her desired level and she shut the faucet off and poured the water. As the coffee dripped through down into the pot, Devon’s apartment was filled with the strong aroma of strong, dark coffee. She smirked inwardly at Salter’s anticipated reaction if she ever stopped by, her face turning green with nausea and would loudly curse her out in Arabic.

  
Devon took the time while the pot was filled to get ready for the day and made her way to her closet. She didn’t have much in the way of clothes except for jeans and a few tops. Everything else was military uniforms and that said a lot about it, Salter had once mentioned. She chose her standard issue flight ACUs and laid it across her bed. She finished drying off her body and hair before tossing the damp towel on the back of her plain dinning chair. She had her bottoms on and was about to put her arms into the sleeves when the alarm on the coffee machine went off. She temporarily abandoned her task for the fresh cup of coffee. She poured the warm dark liquid in her only coffee cup and relished in the first taste, knowing full well she wouldn’t be able to for the next forty-eight hours. Having had enough for the time being, she went back over to the bed and finished getting dressed. She pulls on her boots when there was knock at the door. She yelled that she would be there as she finished tying a knot in her laces. She sighed and answer the door. When she opened it, she find Salter standing out in the hall, her fist raised for another knock. Salter almost wheeled back at the smell of coffee and Devon had to keep herself from chuckling as Salter’s face scrunched in disgust as she wheeled back further into the hall.  
Lieutenant Nora Salter was something different entirely. The first time the two had met, Devon had had the unfortunate business of being unconscious, having been blown side ways into Geneva Bay by a Skelter. The nurses had told Devon the Lieutenant had dove into the frigid water herself and pulled her into the Coast Guard raft. Their next encounter-as it had become for everyone Devon had met after waking up-was a bit terse. She didn’t know if the UNSA would turn her back over to Mars in exchange for POWs still left over from the Succession Wars. She wasn’t very trusting. But, as time went on and they trained together more and more, they created a bond. Devon wouldn’t call it friendship, per se, maybe more of a companionship and a partner-in-crime. It certainly showed whenever they were in the air and would pick at each other, earning a laugh from the control tower as they listened in on the chatter.

  
“What, Fever?” Devon asked as she turned from the doorway and grabbed her half empty cup. Salter stayed outside the door, her face betraying the mistrust she felt towards her teammate and friend.

  
“We’ve been called to Raines’ office.” she said, squinting her eyes. “SetDef ransacked our site on Europa. Reyes is already on his way.” Devon cursed under her breath.  
“He put you up to this?” she asked as she poured the rest of her coffee into the sink and gently placed the cup inside. Oh well, another unfinished cup down the drain. She should be use to this by now.

  
“Unfortunately,” Salter replied, crossing her arms over her chest. “I think he did it because he knew you would be having your coffee.” Devon chuckled.

  
“Yeah, that sounds like him.” Devon holsters her Kendall 44 and combat knife as she leaves her apartment, closing the door behind her.

  
Devon’s apartment was situated at the far end of the hall so they had a ways to walk. Salter noticed her demeanor and knew full well something had happened during her brief sleep. They had only been in Geneva less than twenty-four hours and already things seemed to be getting dark. She had known Devon since her crash landing in the river three years prior. Hell, Salter had even pulled her from river when the SDF bastards tried to blow her up. It had been difficult in the beginning-even three years later, she still had problems opening up to her and Reyes. But, the trust had begun to form over time and the two of them learned they could trust her with every fiber of her being. She had her own reason for wanting to take out SetDef. It had become interesting for the team as Devon knew how to counter one of Salter’s snarky comments and the two would trade light banter whenever out on patrol in their jackals. Salter heads for the elevator while Devon goes for the stairs. Salter looks at her weird and asks if she’s really going to take the sixteen flights of stairs. Devon shrugs and tells her its part of a workout before disappearing into the stairwell. Salter shakes her head and waits for the elevator. The elevator doors opened up, Salter stepped in and pressed the first floor button. She continued on her train of thought about how to broach the topic of Devon’s optional nightmare with her. It wasn’t easy as one look from the pilot sent a chill down the spine. It had been one she and Reyes’ had been on the receiving end of.

  
The elevator ride was quick as the doors open, Salter found Devon leaning against one of the lobby’s pillars, looking bored. It was almost comical as it looked like she wasn’t even trying and Salter couldn’t help but chuckled and shook her head. The two of them make the short walk across the street to UNSA HQ, passing enlisted and city personnel as they put the finishing touches on the Fleet Week decorations. Spectators had already begun walking around the city in search of a good spot to watch the warships as they passed by. Salter caught the scowl on Devon’s face as they passed all the decorations and people and laughed.  
“Oh, and what are you finding so amusing?” Dev asked.

  
“Three years of being on Earth and you still scowl at Fleet Week.” Salter laughed.

  
“Its ridiculous.” Devon grumbled. “Whole fleet here is a danger."

  
“Yes, I know.” Salter told her she knows as they enter HQ. “Hey, if it means anything, Reyes thinks the same way.” Devon merely hummed as they stepped into the elevators. Raines’ office was located on the top floor the UNSA’s headquarters. They had to pass through the regular security, even her and Salter, who were beginning to become regulars. When they checked with Raines’ assistant, a Petty Officer, she told them Reyes was already inside speaking to the Admiral. The meeting seemed to drag on and on. The two women decided to loiter out in the hall as they waited for Reyes to be done. Devon eventually became bored and unholstered her pistol to disassemble and reassemble it. Salter shake her head at her and Devon to ignored her. Reyes finally emerges from Raines’ office, clearly tense. He tells them of the SCAR team on Europa. Raines then calls Devon into his office. Reyes tells her they’ll meet her on the roof with the Admiral.

  
“How many?” Salter asked.

  
“Four. KIA.” Reyes replied. His jaw straining as he clenched it tightly while his body was relaxed. It was an odd combination. He looked over at her and tossed his head in the direction of Raines’ door. Devon nodded and headed inside.

  
“We’ll wait for you on the roof!” Salter called out as Devon entered the office. She found the Admiral of the UNSa sitting behind his desk going over a data pad. Behind him, a vast window spread the length of the wall, showing the Geneva river as their ships that had already made their entrance. Raines’ office was like any of the other commanders in the military: awards and plagues were spread out on the wall, his desk directly across from the door with two chairs seated in front at an angle. He only spared a glance at the door when he heard her enter and gently closed it behind her.

  
“Have a seat, Lieutenant.” he called out, his voice rather loud. Admiral Frederick Raines was an older, black man with a face line with the history of battle. His dark wiry hair was cut high and tight, and his face was marked by scars from before they stuck him behind a desk. He had served during the Succession Wars some thirty years ago as a fighter pilot, serving on tours on Enceladus and Deimos. The man lost a friends in that battle, least of all Reyes’ father. She had felt guilty about that as her family was the one to start this whole thing. The two of them had told her it wasn’t her fault as she hadn’t even been born yet. Devon raised an eyebrow as she took the three strides to one of the chairs and eased herself down.

  
“You wanted to see me, sir?” she asked. Raines merely gestured over her shoulder. Behind her, there was a full length screen that was about four feet across. The screen was stilled on a shot from a helmet of an SDF soldier jamming the flag into the hard ice below. Walking towards a Warden drop ship, was figured dressed in the red space suit top of the commanders. But, through the hazy of the cold winds that blew, she could make a lights in the sky and a ginormous. A warship? No, it was too big. But, what? Devon stood from her chair and walked over to the screen and studied the image, tilting her head and squinting as if it would be all clear the answer would appear like magic.

  
“SCAR team seven was sent into to secure a prototype weapons after SetDef attacked the site.” Raines informed him. Dev shook her head and grumbled about not being fast enough. She head the wheels of Raines’ chair roll against the floor as he stood and walked over to her. He brought up the control panel and reversed the footage back to when SetDef entered the frame and began beating up their men. That all stopped when shots were fired into the air. The footage panned over to the left where she found the commander flanked by C6s on either side. She couldn’t make out who he was until they were face to face where Raines paused it. Devon squinted her eyes at the screen with disgust and growled like a feral dog.

  
“Bloody hell.” she gritted. Raines continued the video until a soldier kneeled behind him.

  
“Admiral Kotch. Gun destroyed. Data retrieved. Initiating RIAH.” the soldier reported. Raines paused it and looked to her.

  
“What is RIAH?” he asked. Dev shook her head as he went back to his desk. She took her time to think as she slowly turned and walked back to the desk. The name was familiar but she couldn’t remember from where she had heard it. Intracore? Or one of the various meetings that her sit in on. A person, weapons, or program, she couldn’t remember and it was bugging the hell out of her. She shook her head.

  
“I-I…” she hesitated. “I don’t know.” Raines sat back in his chair and stroked his chin as he thought.

  
“What about the grainy photo from two days ago?” he asked. She thought back and compared the satellite footage to the feed.

  
“It does fit what we saw in the background of the helmet cam.” she said. She wanted to say more, but had already voiced the idea of the Front attacking them multiple times, practically hammer it into the UN Security Council’s head in an effort for them to beef up their defenses. But, in the end they had dismissed her. Raines saw the hesitation in her body language and the way she looked away.

  
“You’re holding back.” he stated.

  
“Same ramble.”

  
“Lieutenant…” he warned.

  
“I think they’re going to attack.” she said. “Part of the fleet should pull out to safe distance.” Raines chuckled.

  
“Reyes suggested the same thing.” told her. “Sometimes I think you two share a mind.”

  
“He’s not wrong.” Dev shot out.

  
“And I’m going to tell you the same thing I told Reyes: the warriors aren’t in charge until there’s war.” he stated. Dev scowled and looked off to the side, catching the video on the feed.

  
“Play it again.” she asked, as she walked back over to the screen. “But, stop it when the flag is being planted.” He did what was asked and paused it when Wolf fell onto his left side. She studied the the shadow in the background and Raines caught on.  
“See something?” he asked.

  
“Seems he’s been busy.” she thought aloud.

  
“You did warn us when you first arrived that he was planning something big.” he mentioned.

  
“This is beyond big, Admiral. Its immense.” Raines hummed from his seat and the two were plunged into a brief silence before the screen turned off. Dev shook her head and looked it up and down.

  
“Hey!” she yelped. She whipped her head around and gave him a stink face. He motioned for her to follow as he he moved to the door.

  
“Roof transport.” he said, as he shut the door after her. They took the short route to the landing pad, all the while he filled her in on the UNSA’s big reveal. It was a intelligent bot that had been in the works since the end of the Wars. Trying to keep under SetDef’s radar was hard as the engineers creating it were excited about what it would yield in terms of their odds against Mars. Devon told him they were failing on the leak as they had information on the bot, but it was sparse what they had didn’t connect. The two of them emerged on the roof just as Orion was announced over the loud speaker. All around them, people cheered and cursed the SDF. Devon shrank back some, remember that some of these men and women hated her because of what she had been. Raines catches the slight movements and tells her he wants her off to the side with Salter and Reyes.

  
“Why am I needed sir?” she asked.

  
“E3N will be stationed with SCAR Team One on Retribution for the remainder of the tour.” he informed her. “Think of it as a field test to see what it can do.” Dev hummed in thought as they walked up to the transport. At the door was a humanoid bot who had offered up a hand. It was human in the sense that its chassis was modeled after the human anatomy with arms, legs, five digits on each hand. Its head, however, looked more like a snake as it was long and narrow and instead of two smaller eyes, one large lens was seated in the center. Raines ignored the hand and climbed in with ease.

  
“Step aside, Ethan.” he ordered. “This old goat can still climb.” The bot’s one eye followed the Admiral as he climbed aboard.

  
“Welcome aboard, Admiral!” it chirped. Its voice was mechanical like she expected but with emotion like it was trying to be human and sound like a man. He hadn’t noticed Devon climbing in until it turned its head at the sound of boots making contact with the metal walkway. He jumped when he saw her, no doubt seeing the abundance of scars on her face. Devon took a position next to Reyes just off the door as the Raven began to lift.

  
“Petty Officer First Class Ethan,” Raines began. “Meet SCAR Lieutenant, Devon Kotch.”

  
“How do you do, ma’am?” he nodded. Devon growled when he called her “ma’am” and glowered at him. She hated that word.

  
“Don’t call her, ma’am, Ethan.” Reyes warned. “Just call her Dev.”

  
“Yeah, and don’t ever say her last name.” Salter half laughed. “Unless you want to end up in the scrapyard.”

  
“Alright, Salter.” Raines warned. Devon caught the bot staring at her in what was guessed as fascination. She didn’t know how much data had been put into that memory chip brain and she didn’t care to know at the moment. Ethan seemed to become unnerved from her constant staring and physically began to shrink back.  
“Sir, she’s a bit intimidating.” Ethan said. Raines chuckled.

  
“He’s not a threat, Lieutenant.” he said. “You can back off.” Devon obey the order and trained her sight on the city below.

  
“You kept the Ethan project well under the radar, Admiral.” Reyes said.

  
“Captain Alder knew.” Raines informed. “First troop ready model. Quite remarkable. We’re revealing him at the ceremony today.”

  
“Not enough.” Devon countered. “SetDef has bits and pieces.”

  
“You know I get stage fright, right sir?” Ethan joked.

  
“You got feelings Ethan?” Salter asked, taking the bait.

  
“I do, Lieutenant.” he remarks. “I carry the brain of a human farmer.”

  
“Holy shit.” Salter breathed, her eyes going wide. “Are you serious?” The was brief silence before the he spoke.

  
“No, ma’am.” he conceded, shaking his head. “Not at all.” Everyone chuckled.

  
“He got you there, Lieutenant.” Raines laughed.

  
“Did not.” Salter retorted.

  
"Come on, Salter. I thought you were smarter than that?” Devon cajoles.

  
“Oh, fuck off.” Salter quickly shoots back, earning another round of chuckling. Devon threw a smirk in Salter’s direction with a raised eyebrow for added effect. Dev turned attention back to the exterior of the Raven. Below, was the AATIS Guns, Earth’s iron shield and the first line of defense in the case of an invasion. There were several placed in key cities around the world and all connect to the control tower at the center of Geneva. One shot could sink a destroyer. AATIS construction began when things began to heat up between Earth and some of its off-world colonies and finished just a few months into the war. By that time, the SDF had already turned on its creators and were adding more fuel to the succession fire.

  
“AATIS guns are working overtime today, huh, Admiral?” Reyes said sarcastically.

  
“Lot of allied traffic. Always vigilant, Lieutenant.” Raines reminded.

  
“You familiar with the air intercept system, Ethan?” Salter asked.

  
“Earth’s iron shield.” he responded. “Major firepower.”

  
“One shot can bring a destroyer down.” Devon chimed in. At the cockpit, the pilot radioed in one of their destroyers and they responded in kind. A chill ran down Devon’s spine and leaned out the door to a detailed sweep of the area before them. Ethan seemed to sense something, too.

  
“Admiral, sir.” he called out.

  
“What is it Ethan?” Raines asked, a smile still on his face about something Reyes had just told him.

  
“The AATIS guns. They appear to be tracking our fleet.” he informed. Devon snapped her in the direction of the nearest gun just a round shot out from its barrel.

“Incoming!” Everyone clung for purchase inside the raven just as the round struck the side of the cockpit. Devon clung to the Raven’s doorframe as the helicopter began to loose control. Salter yelled out that both pilots were hit as they are dragged form their seats. Reyes and Salter took over as more shots were fired on their fleet. Devon grabbed for the nearest med kit as Ethan and the Admiral did their best to triage. A flash of bright light filled the inside momentarily, causing Devon to pause in his work to looked out.

  
“We got company!” she yelled out, before going back to tying the tourniquet.

  
“SDF destroyers inbound!” Ethan announced.

  
“Bloody fucking hell!” Devon screamed as they life from the pilot’s eyes drained and his body went limp.

  
“This is not a drill!” Raines yelled into his earwig. “Divert and deploy all available assist immediately!” Devon looked to the cockpit window in time to see the roof of the mall speed up to meet them as Reyes yelled for everyone to brace. Devon anchored her hands on one of the support beams inside the body and squeezed her eyes close as the sound of glass breaking and metal screaming and twisting filled her ears.


	3. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To help me write a good portion of the chapter, I used the song "Paint It Black" by The Rolling Stones. Obviously, with including this song, I did not create, write, nor publish the song and hold no copyrights to it. 
> 
> You can go onto Youtube and check out of the song while reading this if you would like.

Devon was thrust forward by the momentum of the impact and was jerked forward despite her iron tight grip on the railing overhead. The movement ignited a throbbing but sharp pain throughout her upper back, causing her to clench her teeth tight and grunted. The inside of the transport was filled with the sounds of sparks arching from damaged panels and severed wires and the groaning of metal as it strained to hold their weight. Outside, shattering glass echoed, filling the air as each shard clung for life above them then to the mezzanine below. Dev could faintly make out the screams of civilians through the cacophonous bangs as the AATIS continued to fire on the fleet.

Dev maintained her grip as she tried to shake the fog that had drifted into her mind. She gave her head a hard shake and looked around. Beside her on the floor, Raines coughed and grimaced, holding his side as he righted himself. Ethan, who had been flung forward and into the back of Reyes’ chair, gathered himself and made his way over to help. But, in typical Raines’ fashion, shook him off like nothing had ever happened. Ethan stopped and gave the admiral a “look”-if that was even possible for a one eyed bot- before rustling at one of the co-pilot’s seat caught their attention. Upon impact, Reyes had been knocked unconscious when he slammed the side of his head into the panel beside him, a small gash on his temple dripping a tiny bit of blood. Devon could tell he was disoriented as he looked around the cockpit in a daze. Salter called out to him as she grabbed hold of his shoulder and gave it a good shake. Salter shook him again when she thought he still in a daze.

“Nick!” Salter yelled.

“I’m alright.” he affirmed just as aWarden drop ship hovered into the building. The drop gained everyone’s attention as the cannons were let loose, the sound bouncing off the walls, trying to find an escape into the open air. Devon side stepped Ethan in an effort to gain access to the Salter and Reyes as she withdrew her service pistol and knife and brought them to the ready. The down force of the ship’s thrusters jimmied the Raven loose from its holdings and they dropped onto the level below. They teetered back and forth unsteadily as they balanced dangerously on the edge. Salter looked to her left and saw one of the pilots had kept their own service pistol within easy reach and handed it off to Reyes. He had taken the pistol just as two enemy troopers used their pack thrusters and launched themselves onto the nose of the bird. Their combined force was enough for the Raven to plummet nose first onto the ground floor. Devon was thrown to the side as the bird titled one way and then straightened out as it landed. She quickly picked herself up when she heard the exchange of gunfire. She found Salter struggling to turn the NV4 rifle against its operator and was quick to fire off several rounds, all of them finding their mark in the soldier’s head. His head lulled back along with his his body and disappeared off the front of the the bird.

The five disembarked from the Raven and moved to cover behind the various pop-up shops and benches as they were fired on. Reyes picked up a Karma-45 off an dead soldier and returned fire. Ethan had turned and fired on SDF that had tried to get a drop on their six while Devon and Salter dragged injured civilians to cover. Devon had dragged a woman suffering from a bullet wound to her thigh to behind a headphone kiosk before leaning out and returning fire. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Raines and Ethan take cover next to her.

“Ass nuggets!” Salter screamed at the enemy as she fired back.

“Interesting choice of words, Lieutenant.” Ethan responded.

“I thought you already used that one, Salt?” Dev quipped.

“Less talking, more firing!” Reyes yelled at them, as he popped out from cover to fire.

“Oh, great now you’ve pissed him off!” Salt laughed.

“Alright, now its my turn to tell you to fuck off.” Devon glanced around the side of the pillar to see if SetDef would see her before moving forward in a crouch. She crept from pillar to pillar until she reached the first line of enemy defenses. She peaked around and found two soldiers hiding behind a kiosk. She pouncing on the closest to her as he ejected his clip, slitting his throat before turning her 44 on his companion. She turned the handgun on another pair across the aisle from her before holstering it and picking up an Erad and a few magazines. The group leap-frogged to the stairs, clearing out SDF as they went and guiding civilians to safety. More than a few times, Devon would place herself in the middle and act as a human shield as SetDef targeted civilians. Somewhere along the way, Salter had managed to pick up an EBR-800 and Devon had taken up the task to watch her six. Salter picked off the SDF crouched behind the stair rails as Ethan and Reyes moved up the first flight.

“Moving up, second floor!” Reyes had signaled, as he and Ethan began climbing the second set.

“Rog!” Dev had yelled back as she and Salter followed Raines. Dev caught movement left of the stairs and saw as a soldier tried to rush Ethan. The two struggled for a fraction of a second before Reyes came up from behind shot the soldier.

“Thank you, sir.” Ethan said.

“No, problem, Ethan.” Reyes responded. “Let’s keep moving.”

“Aye, sir.” Devon brought of the rear of their little formation as they moved through one of the hallways to the emergency exit. The blast from a Warden’s thrusters caught her attention as she looked to her left and saw one landing and off loading troops.

“Enemy reinforcements!” she shouted to the others.

“Copy, Dev!” Reyes shouted back from the front.

“Scramble you’re fighters, Lieutenant!” Raines ordered as they headed for the building’s exit. Dev listened through the comms as Reyes attempted to get SCAR teams in the air, but all they got was static. Moving through the hallway, they passed deceased UNSA soldiers and civilians, something of which had been shot execution style, their blood splattered across the wall and onto the floor. From behind, Dev could see Salter’s disgust for the situation and heard the growl rising from her throat.

“Fucking assholes.” she spat.

“Just keep moving Salt.” Dev responded. “Nothing we can do except get back at the bastards.”

“Communications must have been hit!” Ethan said, as they emerged into the open air of the battle. Overhead, Wardens continued to replenish troop and supplies, mingling the SDF warships and skelters. The air was filled with the stench of burning oil and ash mingled with jet fuel as their own warships half submerged in the river leaked oil and burned. The sky was dark like before a rain storm as huge smoke clouds billowed in the evening sky, almost blotting out the setting sun. Devon realized during a second glance at the skyline that some of the smoke was coming from the city’s skyscrapers

“Would have been the second thing they hit!” Dev shouted out as she swiveled the light machine-gun around the corner. Dev looked over at where the ATTIS Control Tower stood erect and saw drop ships gunning for it.

“They’re breaking for the tower!” Ethan screamed, as they moved down the alleyway.

“We need ATTIS back under our control.” Raines declared. “That’s all that matters.”

“There will be heavy casualties, Admiral.” Dev informed. “SetDef is going to fight tooth and nail to keep it under their control.”

“Gun ain’t cuttin’ it!” Salter said.

“We need anti-personnel weapons.” Reyes shouted back, as he moved to open the gate. Salter had raced up to Reyes as he pulled the gate open, unclipping a grenade from her rig and handing it to him.

“Here!” she said. “I got frags off the transport.”

“Good call!” he replied, as he took the grenade and pushed out into a market. On the level below, more SDF troops jumped out of the Warden’s bay and began targeting civilians. Dev skirted around to the right side of the group, finding a supply box with more grenades. She cooked one and tossed it at the bulk of the tools just as Reyes did. The resulting explosion sent them flying in every direction and causing a secondary explosion with a car. Devon leapt from cover as civilians raced towards them, using herself as a shield from the barrage of bullet. The others took notice and cooked more grenades.

“The mall’s clear, move!” Salter yelled as the civilians fled past them. A round found its mark in a fleeing civilian’s head as troops to Dev’s right took cover behind a car. Dev yelled out their position as she ducked behind a planter. Dev flipped the front of the machine-gun open and ejected the spent mag from the housing and pushed in a fresh one before popping out and returning the fire.

“They’re running!” Dev shouted as she moved around to burned out sedan.

“Let’s keep it that way!” Reyes shouted as he moved up to her side. The two moved around the sedan, clearing it of any stragglers. As Dev reached the boot, a SetDef trooper popped up on her left and attempted to bash her skull in with the stock of his Volk. It was instantaneous for her to drop the Erad, grab the barrel and push it away from her as her other hand reached for her 44 and shot the man between the eyes. Reyes gave her a questioning look as they moved to the entrance of an alleyway but she shook her head.

“Airship!” Salter screamed, diving a barricade. “Take cover!”

“Its targeting civilians!” Ethan yelled, as blood spurted from the bodies as the high velocity rounds tore through them. Dev raced past them and pushed civilians into smaller alleyways until she took her cover in the alcove of a store’s entrance.

“Salt!” Dev yelled, turning further into the alcove to avoid the sudden barrage of bullets.

“A little busy here!” she shouted back, trying to get a beat on the gunner.

“Still got that 800?”

“Maybe!”

“Well, then bloody snipe then!” Dev squatted and leaned out to break the gunner’s concentration before ducking back in. “We’ll break his sight!”

“On it!” Salter yelled.

“Ethan cover!” Raines commanded.

“Roger, Admiral.” Ethan replied, moving to her side. Dev popped out of cover more more and aimed at the metal, using the bullets pinging off the sides to create a distraction. Dev smiled to herself when she saw the blood spirt out of the back of the gunner’s head when Salter fired the shot, taking satisfaction in seeing his body tumble out and flop on the ground. Reyes yelled for them to move up as he tossed a grenade at approaching troops. Dev caught movement in the building and yelled out to the others.

“Tangos in the shops!” Dev out, tossing her own grenade and taking cover. She switched to the other end to fire into the small plaza ahead, breaking from it when the grenade went off and headed inside one of the buildings. She took up a spot in the doorway closer to the line. She peaked out when she heard the soldiers yell about Raines’ position and saw them concentrating their fire on him. She analyzed their situation for a moment, noting the machine gun fire coming from the upper levels. She began to formulate a plan as more poured from the alley at her twelve o’clock.

“It would help if you fired back!” Salter yelled.

“Use the 800 on the nest!” Dev yelled out as she prepared to leaned out to fire back. But, she collided with a SetDef trooper as be barreled through the doorway and tumbled over the edge of the platform. The trooper was the first up and leveled the business end of his Volk at her. But, she sprang up and knocked the rifle out of his hand, sending it clattering to the floor. She tried using an elbow strike to the man’s head head, but he was prepared and ducked before delivering a blow of his own to her side. Dev grunted and twisted her body to absorb most of the hit.

“You fucking traitor!” the soldier growled, his Russian accent thick molasses. The man went for an upper cut but was met with air as Dev managed to jumped out of his wide arc. She delivered a round kick that connected with his temple. The blow sent the man reeling back, dazed and disoriented. Dev didn’t wait for him to gather himself as she charged him, stepping up on his kneed to get above him and wrapping her legs around his neck. She clenched her thighs tight and jackknifed her body to spin down and back. She used her legs to toss the trooper into a counter before unholstering the 44 and shot point-blank. She brought the Erad back up and emerged from the building, ignoring the dull ache in her ribs. She skirted along the edges of their sight, hiding behind the parked cars and in alcoves.

“Fever, Raider, watch your fire.” she spoke in low and steady tone as she crouched low behind a van. She stowed the Erad to her side and retrieved her combat knife and pistol.

“Dev, what are you doing?” Reyes asked. She ignored him as stalked the kill and skirted from the van to the squad car, watching trio take cover behind the shattered remains of a large pot. One of them spotted her and was in the process or swiveling his rifle when she put two rounds in his chest. His buddy next to him looked over at the commotion but crumbled to the ground when a bullet found his cranium. She took out the last one in a quick fight, kicking his knee in and sinking the knife into his carotid.

“Clear!” she shouted, putting the body away from her in disdain.

“Move up!” Reyes shouted. Dev ran across the outdoor patio of the coffee shop to the others as Salt and Reyes moved to clear it out of stragglers. The shop was one of the few public spaces she attended that didn’t have a military functionality to it. It was usually a place she could come to be alone and think, despite all the people and noise. It was certainly better than beating the hell of sparing dummies or another human being. The only thing she didn’t like was all the stares she got from other patrons. It still bothered her, even three years later. Now, it was scorches with burn marks and bullet holes, something else SetDef had taken from her. Dev joined at the back of the group by Raines as Ethan switched out with Salt went to the second level with Reyes and cleared out.

“Use a different tact, Lieutenant.” he reprimanded her.

“There’s a reason we call her Satan, Admiral.” Salter quipped, looking over her shoulder.

“We should be closer to the tower now.” Reyes called out, checking the map on his wrist tablet.

“Not close enough.” Dev muttered, her mood souring more and more by the minute.

“Civilians are everywhere check fire!” Salter called out as they emerged back onto the street once more. Dev side-stepped a civilian that almost ran into her as they tried to escape, curling her arm around the back of the their shoulder and pushed them behind her. Further up the road, they could hear AATIS still letting loose on their aircraft,

“Why are they target our civilians?” Ethan asked, returning fire.

“I don’t know Ethan.” Reyes replied.

“They can’t take everyone. So, they’re thinning them out.” she answered. “Anyone they can’t enslave or send off to labor camps will be killed.”

“Ain’t gonna happen, Dev!” Reyes yelled as they raced down the street.

“Contingency, Raider. Gotta be ready when it happens so it doesn’t bite us in the arse later and we’re surprised.”

“What’s so bad about a surprise, Lieutenant?” Ethan asked.

“I hate surprises.” she spat. The ground shook beneath their feet as another round was fired from the AATIS. Ethan yelled out as they reached one of the harbors and Dev looked in time to see the _Endurance_ crashing into the bay, creating a tidal wave and sending one of the larger yachts onto dry land, blocking a good portion of their path.

“What’s our heading?” Salter asked, looking up at the displaced yacht momentarily.

“Up the street!” Ethan replied without delay. They continued up the street, clearing the way for civilians. They made quick work of the plaza and cleared out several gunner’s nest before reaching a dead end.

“Its a dead end, Ethan.” Reyes said, looking up at the wall.

“I can get us over the wall, sir.” he replied, getting a running start and jumping to grab onto the ledge. Once he had a good anchor and was sure he wasn’t going to topple over, Ethan turned to Reyes and hoisted him up and over to the other side. They went one at a time until Devon was tha last over. She had just jumped down when the _Nova_ flew overhead, smoke and fire trailing behind her. The destroyer crashed several blocks over, sending a tidal wave of debris and dark smoke racing down the street. Above the roar of the crash and screams of terrified civilians, Dev’s ears picked up the cries of a small child. She looked up the street at the encroaching plume and saw the little girl sitting in the middle, crying and looking around in terror.

“Take cover!” Raines yelled out. Dev ran full speed up the street in an attempt to reach the child before the cloud swallowed her up. Still running full throttle, she scoop the petrified child from the ground and dove into an alleyway, using her own body to shield her as they were enveloped in darkness. Devon’s ears popped from the sheer force and her body repeatedly assaulted as small pieces of debris was shoved into alleyway then sucked out. Neither of them moved until everything stilled. It was eerily quiet, save for coughing and car alarms. Dev relaxed her body as she uncurled from the protective cocoon she had created as the little girl, still whimpering, began to venture out.

“Dev!” Salter called out.

“Alleyway!” Dev coughed, picking herself up and taking the little girl by the hand. It looked as if day had suddenly been switched to night as Dev squinted through the dust that had yet to settle. The only source of light was a few cars that hadn’t been destroyed and a beam from Ethan’s head. The two emerged onto the street just as Ethan had been given the order to move out. Dev quickly found a police office a paces up and handed the girl off before running after team. She saw Salter waiting for her at the base of the stairs.

"Nice job with the girl, Dev.” she commented.

“The job we do, Fever.” Dev replied as they continued up the stairs. A mechanical whirling suddenly filled the air, alerting of a possible threat ahead.

“Oh, god, what is that?” Salter moaned.

“I don’t think we want to find out.” Reyes replied. They emerged at the top of stairs in time to catch a glimpse of pod as it landed on the other side of a building.

“Ah, fuck.” Dev breathed. “C6’s!” A pod suddenly dropped in their path, knocking Reyes back. A SDF C6 emerged and went straight for him, grabbing him by neck of his rig and hoisting him into the air. Everyone else took aim at the bot in an attempt to free him when they took fire from another on the balcony behind him. Reyes freed himself by inserting his combat knife into the C6’s power bank on its back and kicked it away from him as it let go, the bot falling to the ground. They moved up onto another plaza where more C6s were waiting for them in the plaza below. They cleared it, replenished their supply of grenades, and moved onto another street where a warden waited with a gunner. It was a game of leap frog as Dev and Reyes stuck to the left side and used the coffee shop for cover. They emerged onto a half-blown out balcony above the bulk of the forces. Dev looked over at Reyes who had already taken out a seeker bot and nodded to her. Dev cooked a frag and tossed it before peering over the lip of the balcony and firing down. Once cleared, they jump down and continued to move up the street. A woman’s screech echoed from the restaurant ahead as they stacked up along the wall.

“Reyes, pry that door. I’ll clear behind you.” Salter said.

“And I’ll be behind you.” Dev added as they stacked up. He looked to them for confirmation before gently opening the door and sliding his barrel into the doorway. He quickly took out the tango poised to kill a civilian before kicking the door open the rest of the way and taking out his partner. Everyone filled in and took cover behind the upstairs rail guards as shots were fired from below. It was quick as the forces were few in numbers and all it took was a few well placed frags to clear them out before they moved onto the ground floor. But something on one of the bodies caught Dev’s attention and she paused momentarily to inspect it. The color drained from her face and her heart pounded in her ears. Nightmares from long ago filled her ears and the trigger forced her to repeat them.

“Guys, we got a problem.” she gritted.

“What is it, Lieutenant?” Raines asked, kneeling beside her. She pointed to the the round patch on the deceased shoulder, its words burning into her. “ _Faciam quodlibet quod nemeses est_.”

“‘I’ll do whatever it takes’.” Reyes translated.

“Sounds die-hard.” Salt replied. Dec inhaled to steady her heart.

“It’s the motto for Intracore.” she informed.

“What the hell are they doing here?” Salter asked.

“Nothing good.” Dev said. A pod landing in the doorway cut their conversation short as Ethan raced over to the window used a table to cover it from a C6 attempting to break in. Dev raced over and lifted up sagging end.

“Sir, take this!” Ethan yelled, detached a rectangular gadget from his straps and held it out for Reyes to take it.

“What is it?” Reyes asked, taking the device and inspecting it.

“Its a hacking module.” Ethan informed. “You can hijack a bot’s view.”

“Raider, hurry!” Dev yelled. “I don’t know how long we can keep this bastard back!” It was a relief to Dev when the pounding on the other side stopped followed by an explosion.

“Good work, Lieutenant.” Raines applauded, as Ethan and Dev lowered the table and vaulted back out into the open.

“That’s good tech!” he responded and tried to hand it back to Ethan.

“Keep it sir.” the bot insisted.

“Well alright then.” Reyes said, clipping the gadget onto his rig and climbing through the blown out window. Salt took point as they traveled down another street.

“All station!” a voice crackled in their ear wigs. “Marines are pinned down! Gold teams cannot advance! We need immediate suppression.”

“Eclipse, this is Top Cat, how copy?” Raines called out as they dodged and weaved through street, avoiding debris.

“Keep your eyes peeled!” Dev yelled out, training the Erad ever so often on the buildings around them.

“5’s, Admiral.” Eclipse Captain Frazier replied. “Send Traffic.”

“Comms are shitty.” Devon groaned as the coms crackled.

“I need your airship drawing fire at the tower for ground cover.”

“Clear, sir.” Frazier copied. “Inbound that.” Devon and Salt screeched to a stop before a large burning blocking off the street.

“Shit.” Devon cursed. “Where do we go now?” Salt looked around at the other buildings, looking to see if perhaps they could cut through one of them. She found their avenue and kneeled next to a fallen wooden beam that covered a hole leading to the building’s basement.

“We can cut through here!” Salt alerted, tossing her head at the opening.

“I got it,” Reyes called out, stashing his weapon and squatting low to lift it. Once he got it a good enough height, Salt stuck her rifle inside, carefully of enemy fire or friendlies. She was met with with barrel of two NV4’s.

“SATO forces!” she yelled out. “Blue, blue!”

“Friendlies!” a Marine yelled out to the others in the room. “Hold your fire!” Dev held up the rear as Ethan and Salt jumped inside with Raines following behind.

“Lieutenant Reyes, get your jackals in the air for support.” Raines ordered before going down into basement.

“Roget that, sir.” Reyes replied, his eyes following the Admiral. He turned back out to the street and found Devon still standing guard. “Dev, we’re good.”

“Copy that.” she said, making the few strides over to him. “Here, I got it.” She grunted as she replaced him holding the log and motioned with her head to get inside. Once in, he motioned to the closest Marines to hold up the beam while he placed the call to Retribution.

“Retribution, this is 1-1.” Reyes called into the coms.

“Go for Ret, 1-1.” Dev let out a small smile at hearing Gator’s voice.

“Gator, I need SCAR-3 airborne for interdiction, call for fire to follow.” Reyes requested, as Dev ducked into the sub-level.

“Copy, Lieutenant.” Gator said. “Time to target, one mike.”

Top Cat to Gold-air is inbound for suppression.” Raines informed as they moved through to the other side of the building. A Marines nearly collapsed to his knees as Salt caught him and moved to lay him prone on flimsy wooden table that had seen better days. “Once, they engage, we’re taking this hill.”

“Roger, Top Cat.” Golds are in place!”

“One shitty arse day isn’t it, Raider?” Dev remarked with smirk as she came up beside him.

“You aren’t kidding, Dev.” he replied.

“And it ain’t gettin’ any better.” Salt said, throwing the remark over her shoulder.

“Well, you did say once that things will get worse before they get better.” Dev answered.

“Ugh, don’t remind me.” Salt replied, as they cleared the stairs. Dev could hear the mass of gunfire, yelling, explosions and deduced they were just a few strides from the front line. Dev widened her stride considerably until it looked as if she was going to do the do the splits mid-air. They passed wounds marines and the comrades carrying them away from the battle as they raced towards it. The sight that greeted Dev upon appearing over the lip of a scrapped out trench was horrific. Parts of aircraft that had been ripped a part either by the AATIS or whatever explosion, littered the entire front lawn of the control tower and served as cover for either side. Dead bodies still leeching blood were either propped up or strewn out in the open, some missing limbs or a large portion of themselves.

“Eclipse, go weapons free!” Raines ordered to destroyer’s captain.

“Let’s get to the tower!” Reyes yelled out to those still waiting in the trenches. “Go, go, go!”

“For Earth!” Dev yelled, as they emerged onto the field. “Push those bastards back!” The air traffic was heavy as Wardens came and went and a few SetDef destroyers hovered around for fire support. Around them, Skelters and Jackals battled for control of the skies and did every maneuver in the book to win the fight. There were a few times Dev thought she saw unsanctioned flight maneuvers by their guys but didn’t give a shit because it helped. Overhead, the _Eclipse_ rumbled in and light up spots with heavy enemy presence. Dev looked to their left when she felt a round graze the back of her arm and saw a small squad of troops amass behind a piece of a Raven and cooked a grenade. The troops that dove out from the cover to avoid the grenade with pumped with lead.

“Split up!” Salt yelled. “Enclose them!” Dev looked over to Salt and gave a short nod before side stepping to the left. She found cover behind a crate where a Marine was bleeding out. His hand latched on tightly to Dev’s rig in a death grip.

“Don’t… leave me.” he forced out, choking on his own blood. Dev spared a glance and saw blood spurting out of his chest where a piece of shrapnel stuck out.

“We’re no son.” Raines assured as he came up beside her, popping a few rounds. The Marine nodded as he struggled to get in air in. But, then in the blink of an eye, he went limp. Dev shook her head quickly and tugged the dead head off her, looking on in disgust. But, it wasn’t disgust for the Marine himself or the death, but disgust at the entire situation.

“I fucking hate this.” she grumbled unknowingly into the coms.

“Get in line, Dev.” Salt said. Dev grumbled to herself as she leaned out and returned fire.

“We’re clear, Lieutenant.” Raines said.

“Copy that.” she responded as the two stood and leapfrogged from cover to cover. Ahead of them, a Jackal let loose their weapons in a quick gun run on a spot. She had to duck from the large chunks of dirt sent sailing through the air. She didn’t have to see that one at hit a Marine, but heard it as he yelped in surprise and was tossed to the ground. Dev dove for cover as a Skelter did his own gun run, taking out several of their guys.

“SCARs, take out the skelters!” she yelled, leaning out and returning fire. “We can’t take the tower if we don’t have the numbers!”

“Roger, 1-3.” SCAR Team Three Leader replied. “Guns hot.” The rapid fire of the guns and thinning of the jackal’s engines could be heard in the air as it engaged in a dogfight.

“You’re good to move, Lieutenant!” Raines shouted. She didn’t waste time sprinting the short distance. She had almost made it to cover when someone tried to steam roll her. Devon twisted her upper body as she dropped her primary and thrust her knee into her attacker’s goin. The man grabbed hold of his “special place” and dropped to his knees in a groan, too focus on the pair to the 44 being withdrawn. Dev fired off three founds into his chest and ejected a mag. Behind, her heard a war cry and turned in time to see a tango running towards her, the butt of his rifle raised to deliver a blow to her head. Devon spun around with her leg leg raised and hit him in the cheek with the heel of her boot, knocking him sideways. She finished replacing the mag and place a bullet in his head before holster it and bring the Erad up.

They continued clearing out the hill of any resistance, using jackal gun runs, hailing modules, and their own bullets until they reached the outer security buildings. Devon and Raines had reached the top first took out the sniper and gunners nest on their side.

“We’re pinned down!” Reyes yelled out through the comms. Raines pointed to a sniper nest on the other side a small force of C6s, all firing on Reyes, Salt, and Ethan. Devon looked around for any way of getting them out and found it in the form of an EBR-800 sniper rifle.

“Admiral, cover me.” she said

“Lieutenant, what are you doing?” Raines asked. Dev tossed her head to the force bearing.

“There’s an 800. I’m going to use it to thin them out.” she explained. Raines nodded and brought his rifle up while she ran in a crouch and replaced the nearly empty Erad with the rifle. She spared a glance over the top of a concrete plant box as she posed the kick stands out and positioned the the rifle on the edged. She carefully glanced around the balcony until she found her target, held her breath, and pulled the trigger. The 800 had a bit of kick to it as the recoil jerked Devon’s shoulder back. She didn’t wait for the visual confirmation that sh had taken him out as she swirled the rifle to fire on the C6s. By, this time, Reyes had managed to gain control of one of them and began unleashing hell.

“We’re clear!” Salt yelled. “Move up!” It was a mad dash up the several flights of stairs to get to the security check-in building where they stalled as a pod had deposited more bots into the courtyard beyond.

“Dev!” Reyes called out. She looked in time to see him tossing a hacking module to her.

“Got it!” Dev attached the module to her wrist computer and interfaced it with her helmet. Her HUD went black and white as it tracked each of the potentially hacking targets. Dev aimed it at one of the bots, illuminating it orange and confirmed to target. The point of view from a C6 was weird, to say the least. The video she was receiving grainy and the lines where feed broke drove her nuts and made it hard to get a beat on it. The bot itself was hard to control, like it was fight back against its host. Dev tried to get it to life its rifle and fired back but the gears in its arm weren’t responding. She abandoned the idea and went for a suicidal approach, forcing the bot to move towards the others before activating its self-destruct sequences and blowing them all to hell. Reyes fared better in his approach and managed to take out a few with the rifle before he activated the self-destruct. Devon and Reyes took point as they entered the plaza and fanned out to check for any stragglers.

“Clear!” Salt yelled.

“Clear!” Ethan echoed.

“Roger. set up a perimeter. SCARs are going interior.” Reyes ordered to the remaining Marines as the five of them raced for the main building.

“Yes, sir!” a Marine responded before rushing off to get the area set up in case SetDef had the balls to go against them again.

“Ethan, patch into AATIS security.” Raines issued, his voice rough. “I wanteyes in that room!”

“Yes, sir.” Ethan replied, as they entered the entered the main building. “Streaming to your HUDs now.” The feed crackled to life as it showed the control room filled with a number of SetDef commandos. At the head of the group, stood a man at panel, wearing the UNSA Navy blue utilities. Dev’s blood boiled at the thought of one of the supposed “on of their” selling them out and causing some much death.

“Ten ships remain. The UNSA fleet is finished.” he said, his focused solely on a small computer not part of the set-up. “Moving to AATIS system destruct now. Mars aeternum.” Devon growled.

“I really hate that bloody saying.” she gritted, as alarms blared through out the building.

“We gotta go-now!” Reyes said, spring Devon into a full blown spring. She nearly collided with the wall as she slowed down and stacked next to the door. She looked behind her to see Salt at her six while Reyes and Raines were to her four and five o’clock. Ethan hung back a bit to get a running start to steamroll into the door. “Ethan-Go!” Ethan barreled into the door, shredding it from it hinges and even breaking it into pieces. He gunned for the traitor while Devon and others took out the SetDef guarding him. One soldier off to Devon’s left tried to rush her with a knife by grabbing his wrist and twisting it hard. His grip on it loosened enough for her to pry it from his grip and turn on him, shoving it into the apex where his jaw met his throat. The soldier’s hand twitched for the knife but full into a heap on the floor. She whipped around as she withdrew her the 44 in time to see Ethan grab the man and shoved away from the computer. Once all had been taken down, Reyes raced from the computer and detached the cable linking it to the control system.

“Jackpot. All stations, I say again-Jackpot!” Reyes radioed as he scooted a 44 the operative had dropped and picked it up.

“Relieve the bot, take the prisoner into custody. Petty Officer, get that AATIs back up.” Raines ordered about. “We still have enemy airships in our airspace.” Two Marines fixed their weapons on the prisoner as Ethan relinquished his hold on him and shoved him to the ground. Devon kept her position off to the side of the door and watched as the Marines cuffed the man’s hands behind his back.

“Right away, Admiral.”

“SATO forced are trenched in outside, setting up a FOB.” Salt informed Reyes.

“Good.” he answered, with a slight nod of the head. “LEt’s get a look at this son of a bitch.” A marine jerked the prisoner up into a sitting so Reyes and Salt could get a good look at him. Devon didn’t care much what the bastard looked like and rather they get him out of the AO ASAP so his ass could rot somewhere and never see the light of day. Reyes reached down and yanked an ID card that had hung off of a breast pocket flap and walked over to the car reader.

“Michael Aaron Paige. Mechanical Engineering. Two year.” Reyes read aloud.

“SDF sleeper cell.” Salt shook her head.

“That’s not my name.” the prisoner called out, looking off to the side before looking back over to the two. It got their attention as they took the two strides to reach the man. “That is the moniker of an earthen fool.”

“What is your name?” Reyes asked, unsure if he really wanted know. The prisoner rose with ease despite the injury.

“Commander Akeel Min Riah, of the Settlement Defense Front.” he announced, the smirk audible in voice. The name sent up a red flag in Devon’s mind as she scrambled through it to figure out what she knew and where she knew it from.

“The operation on Europa.” Raines nearly breathed out, his mouth hanging open slightly. Reyes took a step towards him.

“You started a war.” he stated.

“And I will finished that war.” Riah said.

"Now I know why the name was so familiar.” Devon spoke up, letting her 44 hang by her side as she walked around the Marines to face him. “One of the designated Martyrs. Trained to infiltrate behind enemy lines to send information back.”

“He will comes for you.” Riah threatened.

“I have lived with that threat on my back since I defected.” Devon growled.

“You betrayed us!” he howled, attempting to getting in her face but was held in place by the Marines. She didn’t flinch when his spittle landed on her face.

“You subjugate children to fates you wouldn’t put on the lowest of classes.” she spat back. She looked back over to Raines. “He’s not much use to them sir. He can’t reproduce to add to the Front’s reserve of troops and he’s shit in other duties.”

“So, what? They just put him behind enemy lines?” Salt haloed laughed, not believing what she was hearing. Devon nodded.

“AATIS guns are moments away from acquiring enemy targets, Admiral.” Ethan informed.

“Fast work Ethan.” Raines replied as he made his way over to the console. “Well done.”

“You prolong the inevitable.” Riah warned.

“Get him out of here.” Raines ordered with a wave of his hand. Riah smirked as the Marines began to drag him away.

“ _Mar aeternum_.” he spoke. They stood for a moment and watched him being lead away but Salter intervened.

“Stand fast Marines.” she said, turning back to Reyes. “Give me five minutes with this bastard.”

“Salt…” Reyes let out in a tone of warning.

“So many innocent people, Reyes!” she cried.

“Let’s get out there and fight for them.” he replied, redirecting her anger.

“You’ll have to get through me first.” Devon said as walked over to Riah and stood toe-to-toe with him. “You’ve been away from the Front for two years. Do you still remember what tactics Intracore uses? Hm?” She took satisfaction at the glimmer of fear that wavered in his eyes and the drop of his smirk as he was reminded of what waited for him on Mars should he completely fail his mission.

“Devon, that’s enough.” Reyes said. Devon smirked and moved out of the Marines’ path.

“We’re a go, sir.” Ethan informed.

“Let’s move!” Raines ordered, as made a jog for the exit. Devon waited for them to pass so she may bring up the rear but saw Reyes stall for a bit as he spared a glance at the control panel.

“Raider!” she called out. His head whipped over to the room’s entrance where she stood. “Come one. We got SetDef arse to kick.”

“Copy that, Dev.” he responded and broke out in a jog to catch up to the others.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So like Chapter 2, I used a song to help me create this one and for the general flow of it. The song is "Getaway (Koven Remix)[feat. Angel Taylor]" by Tritonal. 
> 
> Again, I hold npc rights to the song, did not write it, did not sing it. It belongs to the creators. Same goes for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. I did not create the idea of the whole story, just bits and pieces that makes it unique to this story and to me OC, Devon.
> 
> And a quick shout out to bikuai who left a beautiful comment for the story. I originally was only going to work on a small piece, but because I saw the comment, it spurred me to complete writing this chapter and post it. So, I thank you very, very much!

The sounds of engines roaring to life echoed through the plaza of the control tower. Dev kept Riah in her line of sight as she Reyes walked behind them. The Marines handling them were a little rough, but that was to be expected. This man was single handedly responsible for countless deaths.

So many innocents…

Dev mentally shook herself. She had to focus on the upcoming air fight they were surely to face next. Next to her, Reyes relayed the all clear to the fleet about regaining control of the tower while Salt raced ahead to collect the reports.

“SetDef’s retracing!” she shouted from the plaza entranced.

“Let’s not get cocky.” Dev warned. “SetDef might be retreating, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have another attack planned. Be on guard.”

“You have no idea.” Riah chuckled darkly. Devon took a step towards one of the Marines guarding the prisoner and got in his face.

“Gag him.” she ordered, through clenched teeth. Dev really wanted to punch Riah, but knew it would solve nothing and only fuel her anger even more than he already was by just existing.

“Raider to Maine.” Reyes called out through comms. “Lieutenants Salter, Kotch, and I need birds.” Reyes ignored the death glare Dev was given him, knowing she didn’t like it when he or anyone else used her last name. It was something she preferred and another quirk many didn’t get.

“Aye sir, 3-2 will escort to your position.” Gator responded, his voice echoing from the loud speakers.

“Solid copy.” Reyes replied.

“Gator, it is so good to hear your voice.” she sighed.

“I second that!” Salt added.

“Mind telling that to my wife?” Gator asked. Dev glanced over to Reyes.

“Trouble in paradise?” she asked.

“Nah, she’s probably upset that he signed on for another tour.” Salt responded as they made their outside.

“And with being so close to his little girl’s birth.” Reyes added, as their jackals touched down in the courtyard. Devon’s Jackal was the one closest-and the most bare. Unlike Reyes or Salt who had emblems and depictions painted on the side, clearing identifying the two, Devon had left her blank. She thought it unnecessary and downright stupid. She had argued with the two that the key markings their individual jackals would lead to easy targeting. She also argued if one of them were the intended target-if SetDef’s mission was to take out Reyes specifically-they could easily pick him out by the painting on the side of his jackal. Salt had just blown her off and told her to lighten up, saying it added a personalized touch and made it “their jackals”. Reyes on the other hand, told her he would take the argument into consideration. Though, all he ever did was change the image and nothing else.

“Lieutenant Kotch!” Raines called out from inside. Devon stopped and looked over her shoulder at the Admiral. She wasn’t use to his pristine uniform being covered in ash and dirt. His already dark complexion clashed with the bright splatters of blood and blended with dark brown of mother earth’s soil.

“She does not deserve that name!” Riah lashed out, the Marines pinning him back at the shoulders.

“I said gag him!” Dev yelled. She turned her attention back to Raines. “Sir?”

“Don’t be too prejudice when taking our airspace back.” he ordered, his face set hard as stone and a threat hidden beneath his voice.

“No promises, Admiral.” she replied as she walked over to her jackal.

“Lieutenant…” he began to warn, Devon climbed the fold out ladder to her jackal.

“At least she’s being honest, sir.” Salt commented through the comms.

“Bluntly” Dev said.

“Too bluntly.” Reyes added.

“Yeah, yeah. I know.” Dev retorted. “Product-.”

“‘Of my training.’ You say that all the time, Dev.” Salt said. Dev ignored the comment as everyone strapped into their seat and seat their helmets. Dev went through the routine check as the cockpit window latched on and made sure her jack was in tip-top condition before looking over at Reyes and giving him the thumbs up.

“Spark it, Fever.” Reyes said. Dev was the first to rise into the air, the jack’s engines shinning loudly as it pushed against Earth’s gravity hovered into the open air. The sight that greeted her was not a pretty one. A good percentage of Geneva was either on fire or in ruins, the dark smoke billowing up as buildings and explosions still ripped through. Dev tried not to think about the possible bodies trapped within the flames, knowing there was nothing to do about it. SDF warships made a break for the outer edges of the planets atmosphere, a thick trail of grayish smoke blanketing whole sections. Dev maneuvered her jackal at Retribution’s port side and at the head of the SCAR formation. She wanted to be first to take on the bastards.

“Look what they did to us.” Salt said, the malice coming in strong and clear over the radio.

“Let’s go get them, Salt.” Reyes replied.

“To all available craft. The Retribution is in pursuit but we are losing ground. We need to leave atmosphere now.” Retribution’s XO stated urgently.

“One-one copy.” Reyes radioed.

“One-Two copy.” Salter chimed in. “Let’s go get them.”

“One-Three affirmative on the target.” Dev replied, as she started up the sequence to zip into the atmosphere.

“Retribution, this is the Eclipse. Trailing your starboard.” Eclipse’s XO, Lieutenant Burke, advised.

“SCARs fold in, we're going upstairs.” Reyes ordered.

“One-three copy.” Dev replied, priming her engines.

“One-two copy.” Salt replied. Before Reyes could give the go head, Dev shoved the throttle stick forward and launched with Tigris and Retribution. The sudden and harsh launched pushed Dev into the cushioning of her seat and grimaced, though it was something was use to. She ignored the chatter of the others as they relayed their bearings and launch accuracies and instead made sure she didn’t jump around too much and stayed on course. Around her, the sky darkened from a light and cheery blue to a dark and ominous blackness. On either side of her, Retribution and Eclipse rose up and then surpassed her, their multiple engine power far outmatching her twin capacity, though she was still at the nose of the jackal formation. She glanced at the HUD on her helmet, as it read out the jack’s speed and altitude on wither side as well as booster fuel at her disposal. She gritted. She didn’t have as much fuel as she would like, but new she had enough to get into Luminal Golf. There was suddenly a loud clank at the rear of the jack, like a launch line, unhooking from the undercarriage as the thrusters disengaged the boosters and leveled out. At their twelve o’clock and several kilometers away, was a full scale naval battle. Small explosions flashed off the warships armor as they launched missiles at each other and fired on enemy fighter jets.

“You got eyes on this, Reyes.” Salt asked.

“Affirmative.” he responded. Alarms suddenly went off in the cockpit as it detected a lock on by a skelter.

“We got incoming!” Salter alerted.

“Let’s not wait around shall we?” Dev said, as she punched the throttle and zipped off to take the skelter out head on. Dev banked right as she fired off flares as the skelter shot off various missiles. She didn’t wait to fire her own and din’t stay to watch the fireworks as the missile found its target, destroying the skelter in a small eruption of fire.

“Dev-ah damn it.” Reyes called out.

“At least she was honest, Raider.” Salt laughed, as she too launched into the attack.

"Told you I wasn’t going to following through with the order.” Dev retorted, as she barreled rolled counter clockwise and fired her 30mm Gren on the skelter in front of her. The skelter’s tail caught fire as several of the bullets found their mark. Dev disengaged from the pursuit to find a new target. A explosion to her port said all she needed to know about the old target.

“You could’ve still waited.” Reyes retorted. Another skelter zipped passed her, scrapping the nose of her jack, the sound echoing through the cockpit. Dev grunted.

“Bloody arseholes.” she gritted before swinging her jackal around to pursuit and begin firing on him. But the bastard had flaws of his own and fired them off at the first chance he got. Dev stayed right on him with with the 30mm and just like the last time, she got him on the tail. The jack’s tracker notified her of other potential targets. She was about to go after one gliding along the side of the Tunguska when a quick alert from the system warned on an approaching enemy jet. The pilot was stupid enough to fly right into her crosshairs, mostly likely attempted to hit the nose and jerk her off course. It would have screwed with her navigation system and disorient it. But at the last second, Dev pulled back and fired the 50mm Pathfinder cannon, obliterating the skelter in front of her. She then reset her course and went after the skelter hanging around the Tunguska. A large explosion followed by sharp crack but low rumble, diverted her attention for a moment. Dev watched as an SDF carrier was destroyed by the UNSA Tigris.

“Good effect on target, Tigris.” Reyes called out.

“Affirmative, Lieutenant Reyes.” Tigris XO Yu replied.

“Tunguska, this One-three you have a boggy on your starboard side.

“Affirmative, One-three.” the XO replied. “We have him on our radar.”

“I’ll flesh him out into your line of sight.” Dev said. “Then, you can take the right.”

“Affirmative.” Dev chased the skelter as close as she could without taking heat and integrity damage from its rear engines. She didn’t want either Mac or Boss on her ass again. She had been in the women’s crosshairs many times about the state of her jackal. They would berate her on being more careful with the jet and how it was difficult it was to replace certain parts. Though other times it was about how much it costed them. That was something Dev was still finding it hard to just to. The concept of money and it seemed to elevate people on Earth. They used back on Mars, but it had never been the goal to get rich. In SetDef society, status was dependent on how loyal one was to the regime and that was determined on loyalty points. It gad started a sort of debate between her Reyes as a way to help her learn about Earth customs. It was also a way to help her pass time while under quarantine.

“One-three, we have the skelter in our line of sight.” the Tunguska informed.

“Roger.” Dev replied, pressing a few buttons on the dashboard to disengage the jack’s targeting system. She turned the jack away from the destroyer’s armored side and blasted off. “Breaking off pursuit. Tunguska, you have the green light to fire.”

“Affirmative. Firing cannons.” She turned the jackal around just in time to see the cannons level and fire just as the skelter into passed them.

“Ugh! Damn it!” Salt yelled.

“Need help?” Dev asked she attempted to track Salt’s position.

“Yeah, kind of.” she replied Dev pinpointed her location and toggled a zoom in feature. She found Salt maneuvering through the wreckage of the SetDef destroyer with an skelter on her tail. “I can’t fucking break the skelter’s lock!”

“Copy,” she replied, pushing the throttle forward. “I’m making my way to you.”

“Well, hurry!” Dev engaged the boosters on her engines and gunned it Salt and the Skelter. It only took a matter of seconds to reach them as they both raced passed her.

“Salt I’m locking on!” Dev announced. She didn’t wait for the system to fully lock on before she fired with the cannon.

“Copy!” she replied. “I’m breaking off now.”

“Help the warships take out SDF destroyers and carriers while Dev and I mop up!” Reyes order.

“Affirmative, Raider!” Salt said. This bastard was slipper than the others and maneuvered a lot faster than normal.

“Ah shite.” Dev huffed. “Salt, I think you had an Ace pilot on your arse.”

“Is that suppose to make me feel better?” she shouted.

“No not really.” Dev replied. “But, at least it’s not locked onto you anymore.”

“Oh, fuck off.” Salt groaned.

“That’s the second time you’ve told me that today.” Dev stated, as she fired a missile, scoring a hit and destroying it.

“Well, I’m going to say it again,” Salt snipped. “Fuck the hell off.”

“Well, fine then.” Dev said with a sarcastic tone. “Don’t ask me for help the next time an Ace gets the lock on you.”

“Don’t you two ever stop?” Reyes groaned.

“Nope.” the two woman replied in unison.

“Oh, great.” Reyes gripped. “Now you’re talking in unison.”

“Watch it, Raider.” Dev warned. “I might just be a little preoccupied when you call for help.” She could practically hear the sigh through the comms.

“We’re getting hit up here!” Lieutenant Little-Retribution’s XO-cried out. Dev spared a glance to her right and found Ret. getting hounded by a destroyer.

“Hang on Ret., I’m coming!” Dev answered, taking a sharp turn towards the SDF destroyer. Dev opened fired on the cannon compartments that lined the middle of the warship as she approached. She then engaged her bottom thrusters to stall just out of the cannon’s range. The destroyer’s guns targeted her and fired, but the shots fell just short of her jackal. As each round exploded in front of her, she felt the tremors vibrate through her jack, her teeth clattering together with the force. But, she held strong as she moved from side to side to keep the targeting system to keep from locking on. She saw as Ret began to slip around the destroyer to the rear.

“Retribution, target the engine!” she alerted. “You hit it, you blow the whole bloody thing up. But you need to get a safe distance away from.”

“Copy, one-three.” Gator replied. Dev kept the destroyer’s attention on her as Ret. moved into position. She skirted around it like she was a ball tied to a string and flung around in a wide arch. The jack’s tracking system alerted her the destroyer’s cannon capacity had drop by half, putting strain on the others as they tried to make up for the losses.

“Retribution, SDF Destroyer cannons are at fifty percent.” she reported.

“Affirmative, one-three.” Gator replied. “Retribution is almost in position.” The alarms suddenly shot up as a skelter targeted her. She cried out as she barreled roll right and fired of flares.

“Retribution, I’m breaking off engagement.” she informed, as she turned out of the barrel row and turned the nose forty-five degrees away. “I repeat, I am breaking engagement. A skelter has locked onto me.” Dev made a sharp turn left, then up before turning into a nose dive. She tried several maneuvers, even some that were technically illegal in the SATO handbook, but nothing could break the skelter’s lock. The onboard system alerted her to incoming rocket fire and she deployed the last of her flares. There was an explosion behind her and to an unreason pilot, they would’ve believed it was just the flares meeting the rockets.

“What was that about not helping us next time? Hm, Dev?” Salt teased.

“Okay, now its my turn to tell you to fuck off.” Dev countered, earning a laugh from the lieutenant.

“This team has a colorful vocabulary.” Ethan chimed in.

“Oh, shite.” Devon cursed. “I forgot you were there.”

“This isn’t even scratching the surface, Ethan.” Reyes warned. Dev turned hr jackal around in time to see the last two remaining destroyer exploded in a short burst of flames. The comms were filled with the joyous cheers and hurrays of the members of the SCAR teams as they celebrated the destruction. But, Dev didn’t join in on the cheering. Something deep inside of her gnawed at her and created an unsettling feeling in her mind. To her, this seemed almost too easy. And where the hell was her of so fearsome brother? Surely, he wouldn’t have sit something this important out. He was a man of action after all.

“Squadron, this is SCAR 1-1. Return to the Retribution.” Reyes ordered. “We’re RTB.”

“I’ll stay back and guard the approach.” she said. “Just because we took this threat doesn’t mean others won’t show up.”

“Something wrong, Lieutenant?” Ethan asked. Dev shook her head.

“I don’t know.” she replied. “It just seems…too easy.”

“Let's regroup, fuel up and get after these guys.” Salt injected.

“Like I said-I’ll keep watch.” Dev repeated.

“Roger” Reyes replied. Dev angled her jackal in time to see all the Jacks converge on Ret.

“Got a visual on Retribution.” Salt reported. The feeling continued to manifest itself more and more, put even greater unease on Dev.

“Reyes…” she warned.

“I'm getting some abnormal readings, here.” one of the SCARs reported.

“Same. Checking static pressure.” Dev looked at her own monitors and saw the same. It read something coming through hyperdrive. The object was massive in comparison to anything in their fleet. Whatever the object is, it was throwing their scanners all into disarray.

“What the hell-.” she breathed. She was momentarily blinded by a flash of clear neon blue. Her ears rang at crack loud enough to split the sly open for hell to rain down and her teeth clicked. When she opened her eyes, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. It was a carrier but much, much bigger. It completely eclipsed the other warships and made the Retribution look like a church mouse standing at the feet of a giant.

“Holy shit! What is that?!” Salt freaked.

“No.” Dev breathed and shook her head in disbelief. “It can’t be.” It was just like she had envisioned in her worst nightmare. She had warned the Admiral about the possibility and now, it was a reality. It didn’t take long for the warships to respond and open fire.

“SCARS, concentrate all fire on that supercarrier!” Reyes ordered, as the _super-carrier_ began to charge the F-SpAr cannon. Dev was stunned for a moment at the beam hit the Tunguska and obliterated it with a single shot. Dev brought herself from the fog and shoved the throttle forward as Salt, Reyes, and Ethan headed for the bow.

“I got the rear.” Dev said. “I’ll hit the turbines!” The cannoned charged and fired on another ship. They were very quickly loosing the battle. Devon had finally rounded Ret. and was beginning her barrage on the rear thrusters, when _he_ appeared on her helmet’s screen.

“This is Admiral Salen Kotch of the Olympus Mons.” he introduced. “You are defeated. Death is no disgrace.”

“Get the fuck off my screen!” Dev roared.

“Woah.” Salt breathed. “Never heard her _that_ angry before.” Devon got off a few short bursts, doing only minor damage.

“Son of a bitch!” Dev yelled. “Missiles did little damage to the turbines, Raider. Moving to make a pass on the cannon!”

“Ugh! What is this thing made of?” Salter asked. Devontried to let loose with the 30mm, targeting the base of the cannon but deterred by the carrier launching missiles at missiles.

“Breaking off. Breaking off!” Dev cried. “I don’t have flares to beat them back!”

“I’m launching flares, one-three!” Salt replied as she came us from behind and tried her own go at the cannon’s base. “No effect!”

“Half our fleet is offline.” Ethan informed. Dev looked around at the destruction. Larges chunks of their warships floated about, the ends still burned bright from the fresh destruction despite the cold and zero oxygen environment of space.

“Retribution, retreat, retreat!” Reyes frantically called out.

“Retribution is moving to intercept course for tactical collision.” Gator informed, to whatever was left of their forces. Dev circled around and observed from a far as Retribution angled the right bow down.

“They’re ramming!” Ethan said.

“Do not execute collision!” Reyes ordered.

“Captain’s orders, 1-1!” Gator informed.

“Alder, Gator, pull the fuck up! You’re not going to be able to handle him!” Dev yelled through the comms as she angled her jackal up and gunned it. “Retribution!” She had just begun a nose dive above the Olympus when Retribution made contact with the enemy carrier. Metal groaned and protested loudly as it scrapped against one another. Explosions erupted all along Ret’s starboard side with bits and pieces of each warship fanning out in the zero gravity. Dev opened fired, switching between the cannon and the heavy gun.

“This is Retribution, multiple casualties aboard!” Gator reported.

“Alder, you son of a bitch!” she screamed.

“All stations, Retributions is in trouble. Focus fire on that supercarrier.” Reyes orders.

“Dev get out off there!” Salt yelled. Dev shot off the last of her missiles before disappearing from everyone’s sight between the super-carriers two halves. She heard the missiles make contact the small explosions that followed.

“Clear!” she called out as she pulled hard on the throttle to pull her jack up.

“Tigris is engaging. All SCARs, danger close.” Ferran informed. Dev turned the jack hard and joined in on the barrage. The warning system came on over the loudspeaker about the heavy gun over heating and she switched to the cannon. When the same bright neon blue began to appear at the bow of the Olympus and wash over it like a wave, she pulled back to steady by Retribution.

“They’re retreating!” Salt said.

“Stay on it!” Reyes told them. But, in another flash of blue light, the Olympus was gone, leaving behind a graveyard of their own ships.

“They jumped.” Salt said. Dev breathed out heavily and let her body go slack, releasing her grip on the joysticks. The stress and adrenaline that helped her to power through and keep going quickly left her winded, worn out, and sore. The pilot’s chair was a welcome for her aching body.

“Lets get back to base. Just get to Ret.” Reyes said, his voice conveying the same worn-out feeling her body was experiencing. “Guide us in.”

“Hey, Dev you coming?” Salt asked. “Dev?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m coming.” she replied, taking control her jack and angling it for Ret.’s runway.


	5. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, there is no song to go along with this chapter, but in the next chapter there will be.
> 
> Thank again to bikuai for the encouraging comment as well as to FloralFinisher. Like yesterday, I didn't intended to write the entire chapter, but you're guys' comments gave me the motivation to do so. So thanks you to you both very much! It really helps.
> 
> And as always, I hold no rights to Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.
> 
> Enjoy!

Dev hung back as Reyes and Salt lined up their own jacks for landed. She looked around at the mess that littered the area. SetDef warships mingling with UNSA warships, their equipment and whatever was left of the bodies of personnel. She hadn’t known anyone aboard the ships, hell she barely knew even a quarter of the crew on Retribution. But, she still felt a sense of guilt and regret. She should’ve been more forceful in telling STRATCOM to pull some of the fleet out, she should’ve been more alert. Dev could feeling herself growing darker by the minute as she continuously ripped herself a new one. She sighed.

_‘This is going to be a long day.’_ she thought.

“SCAR One-Three you are clear for locks.” the ATC Tower Mini-Boss announced. Dev glanced at her controls.

“Copy, coming in now.” she replied, steering her jackal for the locking system rings that appeared as guidance for the run way. Devon steadily lowered the jack through the holographic rings until the runway hook latched onto the undercarriage and the lock drone locked onto to the nose, its front facing thruster powering on and slowing her down.

“1-1 to Retribution. What the hell happened Gator?” Reyes asked, as his own jack was turned and locked into place. Gator’s video feed showed on the right upper corner of her HUD. Gator coughed off screen before coming into view. In the background, Dev could see sparks arching off from overhead and smoke floated about. Dev’s analysis was cut short by the sudden and less smooth jerk of her jack as the lock’s thrusters kicked up momentarily and pushing back on her jack.

“Apologies One-Three.” Mini-Boss apologized.

“All is good.” Dev replied. “As long as I don’t get thruster back out into space or crash into the walls, I’ll be good.” Dev’s jack turned to face Reyes and Ethan and she gave the thumbs up.

“Multiple casualties from the crash maneuver sir.” Gator replied to Reyes, his sight slight preoccupied by whatever data he was going through on his nav system. He then looked off screen and yelled for a stretcher before going back to Reyes. “Lieutenant Reyes, we need you up here right away. Bridge out.”

“I fucking told Alder…” Dev began, as the four of them were lowered into the first section of the hanger.

“You copying this, Salt, Dev?” Reyes asked, slightly out of breath.

“Yeah.” Salt responded.

“Unfortunately.” Dev chimed. Reyes looked over to her jackal and saw the unamused but yet pissed off look that had painted itself across her face.

“Nothing seems to faze you, does it Devon?” he asked. She huffed.

“Do I need to remind you how I got to Earth?” Devon gripped. A sudden rocking of Ret as an explosion tore through one of the coparents shook the jackals.

“Jesus fucking christ.” Dev mumbled.

“Got some major SNAFUs here, Reyes.” Salt warned. A sudden explosion to Devon’s left set a piece of the hanger’s walls flying like a missile, hitting Salt’s rear cockpit window and ricocheting to Reyes’.

“Salt, you good?” Reyes checked in, as their jacks began to move again and turn to one of the mini-control towers.

“Affirmative. You?” she replied.

“Still here. Ethan?”

“Outstanding, sir.” the bot chirped.

“Devon?” Reyes called out.

“Someone’s pissing on me, what do you think?” she replied, sarcastically and earning a shortchuckle from Salt and Reyes. A live video feed showed Gibson working her magic on the controls.

“Gibson, get us out of here!” Salt asked.

“I’m trying, 1-2. Lines are snagged.” Gibson reported, still working on the controls as their jacks were lowered to the walkway. “Alright, you should have air now, Lieutenants.” Dev looked to her controls for conformations and saw the green light. She gave her helmet a hard twist and removed it from around her head. She was happy to be free of the stale hot air the suits provided and welcomes the blast of cold, taking large inhales of it. The hanger was a mess as the hanger crews ran around like ants whose colony had just been stepped on, dousing fires and triaging the wounded. Her jack rocked as it was seated in place for its passenger’s offload. Devon had to push on the cockpit’s window to jar it loose enough for the pistons to kick in the lift it up. The blaring of the alarms were loud in her ears and the bright in her eyes.

“There any way you could turn those bloody things off?” Dev asked out loud.

“Sorry, Lieutenant.” Gibson shouted, as she used a crowbar to pry Reyes’ cockpit open. “You’d have to talk to the bridge about that.” Devon growled as she moved to the lift.

“Petty Officer First Class Ethan, this is Gibson, Ret’s Air Boss.” Salt said, introducing the two. Gibson leaned in to the bot and gave a half-hearted salute, a stark contrast to Ethan’s more official and by the book salute.

“Welcome to the Retribution.” Gibson replied.

“What’s left of it!” Dev shouted, echoing Gibson as the rest of the group made their way to the lift.

“What was Alder thinking?” Salt asked, more malice than question.

“Strategic maneuvers are above my pay grade, Lieutenant.” Gibson informed.

“Alert the bridge, tell ‘em we’re coming up to see Captain Alder.” Salt informed as they all piled into the lift. An unsure looked crossed Gibson’s face.

“Bridge has been locked down since the attack.” she told them.

“Just try the best you can, Boss.” Dev urged as Reyes assigned Ethan to help out around the hanger. Devon took a position leaning against the railing next to Salt, arms folded and head slightly tucked down. She tried to depressurize herself, allow everything to drain out of her without leaving her tired.

“What’s the count, Boss?” Salt asked, as the lift’s walkway folded up. “How many made it back?”

“SCAR-2s are in the net. After that..” she informed and pointed to them. “You’re it.” Salt cursed as the lifted began moving. The sounds of yells and screams echoed all throughout the shaft and bounced around in Dev’s mind, making it har to concentrate.

“Look at this?” Salt said, gesturing to all the crew members running around haphazardly, as if they had been properly trained to deal with this sort of situation. She knew they were, having been a part of the fleet wide training drills they conducted annually in case something like this would happen. But, Devon guessed practice and the real thing were two different realities, one of which the crew was having trouble dealing with. “We need face time with the Captain.” Reyes nodded.

“Yeah.” he agreed. “We don’t sacrifice our crew when we’re overrun.”

“Its not like he’s going to listen.” Dev chimed in, staring off into the opposite side of the lift. “The man is stubborn as a mule and set in his ways. Just like Mars.” She mumbled the last portion, still knowing they would be able to hear above all the noise. The lift came to a stop at the bridge level where even more carnage awaited the. On the far side across from the lift entrance, a makeshift clinic had been created to accommodate all the injured. The few that hadn’t completely lost their minds, were rushing about, ordering for medical supplies and coordinating the relief effort. She spotted Marines Staff Sergeant Usef Omar and one of his marines in a corner. The Marines was kneeling and no-doubt praying. She was okay with this particular Marine knew almost nothing about him, other than he shared his distaste with his Staff Sergeant on Devon.

Devon had never fully got along with Omar. It was a one-sided feeling of distrust from the man who believed she was a spy for SetDef even through she had given the UNSA on SetDef operations and had been fully vetted by SATO command. It had gotten worse when he realized who was related to and things only got worse from there. They tended to avoid each other whenever they could. If Omar entered the room, Devon left as she never had the stomach to pick a fight with him. He did, after all, have a family and she didn’t want to be the cause of the reason his children grew up without their father. Sometimes, when running through simulators, they would be pared up, these instances only seeming to annoy the hell out of them. Dev was indifferent, preferring to keep to the thinking of “you watch my back, I’ll watch your’s”. Though, sometimes that din’t always work out. Dev usually kept her mouth shut about her dislike, even through she knew he was talking shit about her behind her back and going as far as to call her any and all variations of a “SetDef Bitch”. It had resulted in a few heated arguments that lead to both Salter and Reyes dragging her away for fear of an actual fist fight breaking out between the two. Afterwards, Reyes usually had to write up a warning, through he didn’t want to.

Devon kept her eyes forward, not even sparing a glance in the Staff Sergeant’s direction as they passed, deciding for herself she was going to be the bigger person as Reyes had mentioned in pervious conversations. She glanced around the hallway at those not on the stretchers, many off them in dire need of medical assistances and supplies. Those that were well enough, were doing their best with almost nothing. She felt the anger well up deep inside her, like engines ready to burn for take-off. Her brother’s smirk filtered through her sight and his last words to her drifted through her head.

_‘I will find you.’_ Devon shook her head of the threat and hoped it wouldn’t happen. It wasn’t Salen she was necessarily she was afraid of, it was who he would hand her off to and she had a good idea of who it would be. The three of them continued to move down the hall to the bridge’s entrance, finding a piece of equipment blocking the door.

“Captain protects his men, Salt.” Reyes said. “He should’ve pulled back.” Devon positioned herself in between Reyes and Salt, squatting down low to use her legs to pull up. “Let’s do it.” The three grunted and groaned as their muscles strained hard against the hefty tower. Dev looked over her shoulder when she heard footsteps approaching and saw Omar.

“I’ll help you, Lieutenants.” he said.

“Staff Sergeant Omar.” Salt greeted as he took up the corner on Reyes’ right.

“No easy call your Captain made.” Omar said, having heard their conversation.

“Cost us some good men.” Reyes replied. “Didn’t have to happen-not like that.” Again, they pushed and with Omar’s added help, they were able to push the tower, back into place. But, when Reyes tried to move for the door, Omar stoped him.

“All due respect, Lieutenant.” Omar began. “The Captain did his duty. He drove the enemy into retreat.” Devon sighed.

“I hate to agree with him, Reyes.” Dev said. “But, he’s right. The amount of damage Ret did to the Olympus was just enough.” Reyes turned back to the Staff Sergeant.

“Captain’s duty is to get him men home alive, Staff Sergeant.” Reyes said. Omar shook his head as Reyes pushed down on the door handle.

“Not always, Lieutenant.” he said. “Not always.” Inside, the bridge was just as much disarray as the rest of Ret. Exposed wiring overhead created sparks of electricity, bodies were laid out, some of which were covered wit whatever was lying around. Various alarms sounded off, alerting of multiple fires and structure damage to the ship’s right sight. The bridge gave a clear view of the battlefield or wherever it was stationed, allowing its pilots and captains an easy and almost three-sixty view of the area. The windows themselves could take a near strike through not head on and were equipped with UV filter to protect the occupants inside from any blinding light. In the center and directly across from the stairs, was the navigation table. The table provided holographic maps of the area of operation, the plotted course, or could produce a map of a particular structure. It was where most of the planning took place. It was Ret’s Nav officer’s domain.

Lieutenant Victor Diallo, or Gator as most called him, was a short and relatively young man who had worked on Retribution for a considerable about of time. Gator was usually the voice of reason whenever they all went out in a group, usually deterring them from doing anything brash or stupid. Devon could never be counted on to do so because she always wanted to know how far one of them could go and used the drunkiness of the crew as entertainment. Gator was also a family man, with a wife and even a daughter on the way. Devon didn’t quite fully understand his wife getting upset at him for signing on for another round of duty. He wanted to make sure his family was safe. He was also one of the first people, besides Salter and Reyes to accept with little judgement. She enjoyed the intellectual side of their arguments and it gave her good insight how Earthen culture. Sometimes, she would even help him if needed when it came to out-maneuvering SetDef ships or even tracking them. Overall, the two had a good relationship, both in and out of the service.

“Make way for the Captain!” Boats yelled out. Down and off to the side of the stairs, was Boats who was even smaller than Gator, holding her arm out in a holding fashion as two sailors passed her, carry a body on the stretcher. Boats was the bridge officer, serving Captain Alder in his day to duties and keeping overall track of activities on the bridge.

“Where is he, Boats?” Salt asked.

“Where’s Captain Alder?” Reyes echoed.

“Right here, sir.” she replied. Devon followed to two closely behind, taking up position on the second step and watching as the two sailors carrier Alder’s body up and out of the bridge. The three of them were in shock. Reyes looked over at Gator, the shock still present on his face, as the younger man shifted his stance.

“Gator.” Reyes called out. Gator gulped.

“Captain’s dead.”

“Went down with his ship!” Omar almost yelled out. Devon waited for the two sailors to move out to close the door and make her way down the steps. She stepped around Salt and saw Yetide on the floor beside the XO. She quickly made her way over and kneeled beside the woman.

“XO?” Salt asked. Gator turned to where the two women were. Devon looked over to Salt and shook her head.

“No longer with us, ma’am.” he reported. Reyes glances around at the carnage on the bridge.

“All this happened in the crash?” he asked, as he waled over to the XO’s body.

“Yes, sir.” Gator replied. Devon stood up and walked over to Gator as Reyes looked over to Salt in disbelief.

“So, who has the conn, Gator?” Gator was silent for a moment and glanced around at who was present.

“As the highest ranking officer on board…” he began. “I believe you do, sir.” Another alarm going off diverted everyone’s attention over to Boats who finger’s flew over the keyboard.

“Destroyer Tigris is docking shuttle to come aboard.” she informed, looking from the console to Reyes.

“Roger that.” Reyes replied before looking over to Gator. “You spinning radar?”

“Still turning, sir.” he replied. Reyes nodded.

“Get Raven transport set for evac. I want our casualties outbound right away.” Reyes order before turning to Yetide, who had retaken her position at the nav table. “Drop officer, coordinate with engineering and get us mobile.”

“Roger. Engineer MaCallum’s on her way.” she reported. Reyes looked over at Omar who had remained at the base of the stairs.

“Staff Sergeant.” Reyes called to. “Can we count on your help?”

“You’ll have all you, Lieutenant.” the man replied.

“Salt, you with me?” Reyes asked, looking to his wingman.

“Always.” she replied with a nod of her head. Reyes then looked behind him to Devon who had taken up a position at Yetide’s work are, going over the grim damage and casualty reports.

“Devon?” Reyes called out, somewhat softly. Devon’s head didn’t snap to looked at him like usual. This time is was more sluggish and restrained, like she was holding it in.

“My brother is the cause of this.” she sneered. “So, you bet your arse I am.” Reyes nodded before turning back to Gator.

“Gator, get the Admiral on the line.” he order. Gator merely nodded before turning to the Comms Officer and reissued the order just as the Tigris Captain arrived at the bridge. Nearly everyone straightened up at the Captain’s sight. Devon’s was a little less crisper than usual and took up a more loose stance. Ferran looked over Gator and asked for the commanding officer and was diverted to Reyes.

“Captain.” Reyes greeted solemnly. “Your ship and crew?”

“Intact.” she replied. Their conversation was interrupted by CommO.

“Sir, Admiral Raines is on the line.” she reported. Before Reyes could give the order to patch him through, everyone had begun the movement to the full length screen on the other side of the bridge. Devon hung back with Gator, unsure if she was allowed in on the briefing.

“Captain Ferran. Ladies, Gentlemen.” Raines greeted. “Its good to see you.”

“Sir.” Ferran replied back.

“Let me make our situation absolutely clear.” he said. “We are now at war with Settlement Defense Front.” Devon inhale sharply, having known this was the inevitable. She had prepared for the inevitability of war her entire life. But, it had always been the viewpoint of attacking, ever defending. This…was a completely different senecio and rules of operations altogether for her. “Due to Captain Alder’s use of force, the enemy was driven into retreat. At this time, Tigris and Retribution are the only operable ships we have. Our course of action moving forward is to buy Earth time while we rebuild our fleet.”

“That’ll only get us so far.” Devon mumbled. She caught Gator’s quick glance out of the corner of her eye.

“Understood, Admiral,” Ferrand replied. “Tigris is prepared for tasking.” The screen changed from the live feed of the Admiral to a map of Geneva then to their Lunar Gateway. The Gateway was a checkpoint for incoming and outgoing UNSA transports going to and from Earth and its colonies. It was one of the first line of defense aside from the warships that were on steady patrol in Earth’s orbit. It was also a major commercial hub where resources were exchanged.

“Today’s attack was not limited to Geneva.” Raines reported. “SetDef launched a concurrent strike on the Moon Gateway Port. And those cargo terminals receive freight critical to rebuilding our fleet. So, your mission is to retake that port.” Raines paused and focused his attention on Reyes. “Lieutenant Reyes, I’m promoting you to the rank of Commander. You are now the acting Captain of the Retribution.” From behind, Devon could see Reyes leaned away from, taken somewhat aback by the sudden jump in rank. But, he quickly recovered and took the promotion in stride.

“Roger that, Admiral.” he replied. Raines then focused his attention on Devon.

“Lieutenant Kotch.” he called out. Devon looked uneasily at the group before coming to stand beside Reyes. She gulped.

“Yes, Admiral.” she responded.

“I want you working with our profiles on coming up with a psychological dossier on your brother and STRATCOM about any operational moves by him and SetDef when you’re not in the air or on missions.” he ordered. Devon nodded.

"If it helps taking him down, I’ll gladly do it, Admiral.” she replied. Raines spared one more look at the men and women gathered in front of him before signing off.

“We got not air wing.” Salt sighed

“We’ll go without it.” Omar said. “That’s how we do things in the infantry, Lieutenant.” Reyes patted Salt’s shoulder as he and Ferran walked to the lift. Salt motioned for Devon to follow her to the nav table.

“We’ll insert the Marines from Retribution.” Reyes said.

“I’ll provide over-watch from Tigris.” Ferran inserted. Reyes stopped momentarily to turn to Devon.

“Dev.” he called out. “You’ll head the other SCARs in the aerial assault. Soften up our approach. I’ll call you if you’re needed on the ground.”

“Copy.” she responded with a nod. “We’ll launch once Ret is in range.”

“Let’s go to work, Captain Reyes.” Ferran announced. “Stay sharp out there. All of you.”

“You too, Captain.” Reyes called back.

“Fair winds!” Devon shouted as the Tigris Captain stepped into the lift.

“And following skies to you as well, Lieutenant!” Ferran shouted back as the doors closed. Omar sighed.

“You got some shoes to fill now, Captain.” he said, looking Reyes up and down as if sizing him up. Devon squinted in suspicion at the Staff Sergeant’s back.

“We got limited boots and guns.” Reyes began. “Lieutenant Salter and I will deploy with you.” Omar was taken a back by the comment and looked around the bridge to see if anyone else had heard the comment besides him.

“This is a ground assault.” Omar threw his head behind him. “Captain’s place is on the bridge.” Reyes took a commanding step forward, as if to silently say he wasn’t backing down from the plan.

“Not this captain.” he replied. “Not today.” It became a staring contest between the two men and if Devon didn’t know Reyes as well as did, she’d thought they were comparing their sizes. The interaction had Devon, Salt, and Gator exchange glances, all three of them wondering who would back down. Eventually, Omar yielded and began to walk off.

“Marines take point.” he announced, the sour in his voice. “You ride with us, see how the view changes.”

“Muster on the Well Deck in five, Staff Sergeant.”

“Copy.”

“Get us going, Gator.” Reyes order. “Lunar Gateway.”

“Aye, sir.” he replied, messing around with the overhead controls. “Plotting course.”

“We’ll notify when ready, Captain.” Yetide told him.

“Captain Reyes.” Boats called, uneasily. She stood in at the position of rest off to their left, sparing glances off to the side. “Captain Alder’s Operations Office is now yours. Be advised, his personal effects are still in place.” Reyes nodded.

“Thanks, Boats.” he said, giving another short nod to dismiss her back to her post. He looked behind him and motioned for Salt and Reyes to follow him. Devon was the last inside and closed the door behind them. The office was not as bad as the bridge or the rest of ship. Papers were thrown into disarray and a few frames clung to the walls for dear life. Reyes stopped to bend down and pick up one of Alder’s awards. A small golden statue with a cup centered in front of a ring.

“For the indomitable, Captain John Alder.” Salter read outlaid from the plague at the bottom as the three of them walked into a private sitting area behind the desk.

“Captain is dead.” Reyes replied gruffly and with scorn in his voice. Salt paused momentarily in setting the trophy on the coffee table before righting herself again. Devon observed Reyes’ stance. It was rigid and full of tension. His face shown in the reflection was hard set and even through it was not a clear picture from where she stood, Devon could see the storm churning within him.

“Long live the captain.” Salt replied softly. “Hey, Nick..”

“Yeah?” Reyes asked, turning back to look at his now second-in-command.

“You can do this.” she replied. “You’re the best we’ve got.” Reyes smirked.

“That’s high praise coming from you, Nora.” he replied.

“You earned it, Raider.” Salt said before turning and leaving. Dev began to follow her out. “We’ll give you a moment.”

“Dev, stay.” he called out, stopping her dead in her tracks. “I need to speak with you on your brother.” Devon looked to Salt who had stalled by the door and gave her nod.

“Yes, sir.” she replied, turning to look at him. He waited until the door had been closed to speak to her again.

“What’s your brother’s next move?” he asked. Devon looked down at her feet before shifting her weight and moving towards him at the window.

“With damages, he’ll need to go to the shipyard. Command and council will want an update.” she reported. “From there, they’ll issue the target. For now..” Reyes cocked his head slightly.

“Now what?” he asked. She was silent as she though. What would Salen being doing right now? Gloating? Planning his next attack on them?

"For now, he’s relishing in the victory.” she replied, giving a slight shrug. “But, he won’t let it feed his ego. For him, it would be a distraction that would retract from their overall success.” Reyes nodded, taking in the preliminary report.

“Thank, Dev.” he replied. Devon gave a short chuckle and flashed him her trademark smirk.

“Aye, sir.” she told him before leaving his office.


	6. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the song that goes along with this chapter is "10 Feet Down (feat. Rubelle) by NF. I hold no ownership of the song or Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare

The ride down to the armory level was short, through rather loud. The screaming and yelling of frantic sailors was replacing by the banging of hammers, the arching of the welding equipment, and screech of drills as the Retribution’s halls were slowly being put back into place. She wondered to herself how long would it take the engineers to put her back together. Would it take longer with still being active? Should she suggest to Reyes to keep Retribution out of a fight until most of the carrier was back in place? Was she allowed to suggest that? For Devon, things were changing very rapidly and she was finding it a little hard to keep up.

The lift came to a stop at the armory level and Devon departed. The hallway splintered off into two directions, one leading to the ship’s armory and the other to another portion of the carrier that she didn’t care for at the moment. Windows lined two of the three sides, providing a view of of Ret’s exterior and the vast expanse of space around her. Devon spared a passing glance as she walked to the armory door. She could only see a sliver of Earth and what she could see was nearly dark as the planet rotated into its nighttime cycle. Littered along the edges of the hallway were trunks, canisters, portable workbenches, and ladders. There was only one other person in the hallway with her and he had his head in the ceiling, no doubt rewiring. Once she reached the armory’s door, she pushed down hard on the lever and shoved it open.

“Well, hello there, Lieutenant.” came the southern drawl. Devon looked over at one of the windows that gave an inside view at the weapons locker and smirked. Warrant Officer Maynard “Griff” Griffin watched the SCAR operative with intrigue. He was no doubt wondering what her ingredients for destruction and mayhem were going to be for the day. Griff was a reasonably tall man with dark brunette hair that was parted on the right. When they had first met, he was little put off by her, as most people were and the feeling was mutual with his prosthetic arm. She had cautiously approached him about but had been brushed off, saying he’s rather not. She could respect that, there was a lot of things she didn’t want to talk to anyone about either. She didn’t even want to think about them.

“Hello, Griff.” Dev coolly replied as she strode over to the nearest station.

“Here for your usual mayhem, Satan?” he asked. Devon raised an eyebrow at his nickname for her. He was usually the only one to use it. Though, sometimes Salt would if she pulled a particular daring move in her jack.

“Enough to make grown men piss their pants, Griff.” she responded, her attention diverted to the load out screen.

“So more than the usual.” he stated, giving her a knowing look. She paused to glare at him.

“What do you think?”Devon asked, slightly annoyed as she turned her fully on him. Griff looked up into ceiling, thinking carefully about his next words.

“Yeah,” he nodded, “I’m gonna stick with that.”. Devon shook her head and reassigned her focus on the load-out. It had been a no-brainer for her-the standard NV4 assault rifle with reflex sight, a rifled barrel to increase the range and damage, and a stock. She stuck to her usual for a secondary- Kendall 44 with no sight. For added bonuses, she picked out a couple of frag and anti-gravity grenades. The anti-gravity was great for most any environment, save for Space itself, as it voided the area of its gravity and suspended its target just long enough for them to be taken out. Her Jackal was no different, keeping it simple and as is.

“You keeping your knife?” Griff asked, gesturing to her belt. Devon glanced down at her hip before looking back up.

“Aye.” she dragged out. “Anything wrong with that?” Griff shook his head as he backed up towards the printer.

“No, no, no.” he said. “Just curious.” Devon hummed as she finalized the load-out. But as soon as she pressed the button, Devon was thrown forward onto the console.

“Ugh! This is a shite jump!” she gritted.

“Wouldn’t be surprised.” Griff answered, holding onto one of the weapons crates. Alarms sounded overhead only to be drowned out by the hull’s groans of protest. A small explosion ripped through a part of the hanger, trigger the fire suppression system and sending the crew into a frenzy as they attempted to put it out. The carrier buffeted around in the jump pocket, knocking things off shelves and throwing open unsecured cabinet doors. Devon had only just regained her footing when she thrown backwards as they exited the pocket, knocking her head into a crate. A dull pain radiated from the impact point and spread forward as she grabbed her head and groaned.

“Ow.” she breathed as she picked herself up.

“You okay, Lieutenant?” Griff called out. Devon stumbled back into her station.

“Aye.” she exhaled. “Just…hit my head.”

“Wanna go to med bay?” he teased.

“Fuck no!” she shouted, instantly straightening herself and glaring daggers at him. She had an absolute hatred of place. All the monkeys down there ever did to her was poke her with needles and berated her. Though, she did have to admit it was sometimes warranted as she never took up the initiative to go herself to visit them and usually tried to patch herself up after any scuffle. Reyes or Salt would eventually find out afterwards and personal escort her there. They even stood guard just to making sure she didn’t rabbit-which she did on a few occasions.

“Just poking fun.” Griff said, innocently as he held up his hands and backed away. Devon hummed as she exited out of the terminal’s screen and waited patiently as her set was loaded into rack. The cabinet popped open, displaying the assault rifle with all its gear. Once everything was secured to her person, she headed for the hanger door.

The hanger was loud with the Skittles yelling to each other over the clang of C12’s feet and the hiss of their pistons. The smell of gasoline and afterburners infiltrated her nose, almost making her feel right at home-whatever the hell that was now. She didn’t mind the noise, preferring it to quietness that sometimes leached into her mind. A null in the noise level, no matter the location, always sent a chill through her body and a shiver up her spine. In Devon’s experience, quietness always preceded the storm.

She took the lift down one level to the tarmac where she met Gibson, headset on and tablet in hand. Gibson was another person whom had trusted her at their first meeting. The woman had been a pilot herself during the Succession Wars, serving several tours alongside Raines when he was just a lieutenant junior grade. Through, for reasons still unknown to Devon, Gibson had given up the pilot’s seat and opted to become the hanger’s lead officer. Gibson ran the carrier’s hanger with an iron fist, taking every step that could be taken to assure everything and everyone was in tip-top shape. It was one of the reasons Ret had high marks on its annual inspections.

“Hey, Boss.” Dev greeted with a sigh.

“Hey, Dev. SCAR teams two and three are waiting for you at Raven-One for the briefing.” Gibson reported as she handed a tablet off to her. Devon took the device and scanned through the report on her jackal-any repairs that been done, refueling, system and weapons check. “Your jack is up at Bay 1.”

“Thanks, Boss.” Devon nodded as she handed back the tablet. Boss nodded as she took it back and jogged off to a small group of skittles loitering around one of the aircraft tugs. Dev easily found Raven-One, it was the only personal transport with a large gaggle of pilots hanging around the rear. She caught the attention of the highest ranked of the group as she strode over to them.

“Group attention!” Lieutenant Junior Grade, Thomas Yazzie, shouted. The yell caught thegroup off-guard as the jerked to the position of attention. Yazzie was a tall and darkly tanned Navajo man from New Mexico and in charge of SCAR Team Two. His hair was kept within the military regulations, but from time to time he would push what was allowed in favor of native heritage. Yazzie had an initial distrust of her like many others. He was still suspicious, but showed her respect as a higher ranking officer. Devon’s shoulders sagged in annoyance, still hating whenever she was put anyone at the front of any formation. She huffed out a sigh andjogged on the balls of her feet to Yazzie’s six, waiting for his about face and salute. “All accounted for, ma’am.”

“Don’t call me ma’am.” she gritted, as she returned the salute. Yazzie dropped his and jogged to the back of the formation. She wasted no time in beginning the the briefing, it ousted wasn’t in her nature. “This is a twin assault to take back the lunar gateway. Watch your sectors of fire, we have have our people taking it from the ground. Our objective is to regain air superiority from SetDef.” She went through the usual spiel about tag teaming and not letting themselves get overwhelmed. “We’re already are down several SCAR Teams. We don’t need to loose anymore. If see our guys having trouble beating back the bastard, take a shot if you can.” She spared a quick at Yazzie. “At any time, Captain Reyes may call on me to switch to the ground assault teams. When this happens, Yazzie will take over command.”

“SCAR 1-3, do you copy?” Gator called out through the comms, interrupting the briefing.

“I read you, Gator.” Devon responded, into the mic.

“We’re entering the AO.” he informed.

“Roger.”Devon replied, before turning to glance back over at the pilots. “Alright! Let’s give those bastard hell. Dismissed!”The teams scattered with a yell as they ran to their jackals lined up at each of the launching bays. Dev surveyed the hanger for a moment before turning and jogging to her own. Standing at the ladder, was Kloos with her helmet.

“Your jackal is all ready to go, Lieutenant.” he reported, his German accent thick as she took the ladder rungs two at a time, bracing herself on either side of the cockpit as she swung her legs over and in and before seated herself into the pilot’s seat. Kloos’ head popped up over the edge as she strapped herself in and began powering up the jack’s engines, waiting for her to finish before he handed her the helmet.

“All SCAR Teams, report in.” Dev ordered, after securing the helmet to her suit. Kloos gave her the thumbs up as the cockpit window was lowered.

“SCAR Two-One, all systems green.”

“Check Two-Two.” Devon listened as each of their members radioed in. Her Jack jerked forward as the hooks slid her onto the runway.

“One-three to One-One.” Devon radioed. “SCARs are ready to engage. How copy?”

“Affirmative, One-Three.” Reyes radioed back. “You’re clear to engage. Keep our path clear.”

“Roger, One-One.” she responded back before turning the green light on the others.

“Tower to One-three.” ATC Mini Boss said. “Be advise, heavy skelter presence in the AO.”

“One-Three, Copy.” Dev replied as she opened the throttle. The engines whined and screeched as they built up power. Over the engines, she could faintly make out as the Tower Mini-Boss commenced the countdown. When they reached one, Dev shot out like a rock in a slingshot. They fired upon almost immediately as they exited Ret.’s runway and Devon had angled her jackal towards the gateway, She looked to her left in time to see two of their own explode into miniature fireballs. “Son of a bitch.”

“SCARs Two-Three and Three-Three are down. Runway five is also out of commission.” the tower reported. The on-board AI kicked in when it detected two skelter missiles tailing her.

“Fuck.” she breathed out as she barrel rolled down and shot off flares. She righted herself and skimmed the Moon’s surfaces as two more missiles hit to her right. An explosion from behind shook her jackal and sprayed debris out in all directions, pinged off the body. The tango on Devon’s HUD disappeared and the alarm system switched off.

“Your clear, One-Three.” Yazzie called out over the radio as he came up on her right, the tips of their wings only a few feet a part. The two exchanged thumbs up before parting ways to take on the remaining threats threats. A skelter a few kilometers ahead of her barrel rolled into her crosshairs. She acted on instinct and fired off two missiles, but the bastard shot out of the way in the nick of time and her missiles hit one of the passenger shuttles.

“Gator, you’re going to have to drop and go. Fighting is too heavy for you to take on for too long.” Devon advised as went after the skelter. She spotted Retribution at her nine o’clock as it descended to off load the insertion teams.

“Affirmative, 1-3.” he replied. “Moving for off-load.”

“All SCARs, keep an eye out. Marines are entering the AO.” she advised out to the others.

“Keep SetDef off of us, One-Three.” Reyes reminded.

“Roger, Raider.” she answered back. Devon had managed to regain the lock and pursued the skelter even as it tried to fly her into one of the terminals. “Not this time, you bastard.”She let loose with the 30mm, catching a few SetDef C6s sprayed out on the tarmac, an added plus in her book. She finally caught the bastard when she anticipated that he was going to make sudden right turn.The resulting explosion, through destroyed part of the terminal’s structure.

“Taking heavy fire sir! We need to insert now!” Gator yelled frantically over the comms, alarms going off about multiple fires and impact sites on several of the consoles no doubt. Devon angled her Jackal back to Ret and hit the thrusters for an added boost

“Swinging around to cover you, Marines.” Dev said, letting the thrusters rest before re-engaging them again. but, out of her peripheral, she saw two Skelter gun it for the Well Deck as the doors opened. “Skelters incoming on the Well Deck!” Dev punched again and fired her cannon, hitting one in the stabilizers. But, not before his battle buddy fired his gun on their guys. She cursed as she flew past the Deck, two Marines bouncing off her Jack.

“Its raining men.” one of the pilots called. Devon groaned.

“Shut it!” she snapped. “This is not the time nor the place to be making shite jokes!”

“Roger, Lt.” the pilot responded, his voice grating.

“Alpha-Two is down!” Salt yelled. Devon turned her jack around back to the convoy, hearing Reyes give Gator the order to pull back and Salt picking out the SDF APC as they sped towards to intercept the.

“I’m coming to you!” Dev replied. She engaged the fighter’s targeting system and locked on. She was only able to fire on the bastard’s rear end when a Skelter flew up from behind. The system took over and fired off flares. “One-one, breaking off to engage skelter.”

“Roger, One-Three.” Reyes replied. “Good luck.” Devon barrel rolled away from the teams in an effort to split the skelter’s choice in case it wanted to kill two bird with one stone. She went nose up before twisting so her belly was up and facing the skelter. She quickly righted herself and fired off a missile. It was a hit and run sort of air battle with minor altercations that ended quickly and usually ended with someone being blown to pieces. They clashed over and over again, small explosions erupting out of thin air as missiles collided with flares or a jet. They had nearly taken out half of the Skelters, when Dev got the call.

“One-Three, I need for the ground assault. How copy?” Reyes called in.

“Solid copy, One-One. Moving to ground assault.” she replied, as she took out her last target. “Yazzie.”

“Yes, Lieutenant.” he answered.

“You’re in charge.” she said. “I’ve been called to the ground.

“Aye,” he replied. “We’ll mop up up here. You just worry about giving the bastards on the ground hell.”

“Affirmative.” she said as she angled her Jackal up to a window. She made sure her weapons were still secured to her person as she popped the canopy and disembarked. She took her assault rifle out and fired several shots into glass. For a brief second, the glass was blown in but was then sucked out along with crates and bodies of SetDef. Dev aimed her grappling hook for a nearby planter and tensed as it jerked inside, the blast shutters almost catching her feet. She looked around and found herself in one of the terminal lobbies. Around her, it looked as if a hurricane had made landfall, various crates were thrown into disarray and bodies-civilians and SetDef-looked as if they had been tossed around like rag dolls in the dryer. She couldn’t say she was surprised to see civilians, the SDF was never shy about terminating them in the past. It had even been taught in school to execute them without mercy when taking any UNSA facility. Though, it still disgusted her-more people without families and many, many more graves to be dug. She sighed. This was going to be a long and very bloody fight.

Devon could hearing gunfire and explosions close by and her NV4, training it on the surroundings incase someone tried to get the drop on her. She entered commands for her jackal into her wrist computer to return to Ret and alerted Gibson. She followed the trail of destruction up the stairs and into another part of the terminal, finding the fight. Over the lip of half wall, Dev saw a SDF C6 grab hold of Reyes. She pounding her feet into the ground and rounded the corner, using her pack to boost her over the gap and land on the bot. It immediately dropped him and instead focused on her. It shook and wobbled as it tried to throw her off, but she had turned to piggyback off of it and sank her knife into the base of its head. It froze for a moment as its system suddenly ceased and dropped to heap on the ground.

“Thanks, Dev.” Reyes said, out of breath. She looked over to him and held out a hand.

“Let’s just go.” she said, as she pulled him to his feet. The adjacent room was not as full of tangos as the pervious but they put just as hard of a fight. They had almost made it though when the bastards deployed a heavily armored C8. Though, the warning came too late for one Marine who had been thrown to the other end of the room when the large bot rammed him with his shield. It sent everyone scrambling for cover as it sprayed bullets wildly, trying to hit anything and everything. Devon peaked out from her cover to study the C8 and came up with a strategy.

“Raider, I have an idea.” she started.

“Oh, boy what is it?” he asked, as he popped out of cover to return fire.

“I’ll distract it, get it to turn so its six is to you to take the shot.”

“No.” Reyes shook his head. “No way are you putting yourself in it line of sight.”

“What other bloody choice do we have?” she yelled at him.

“Sir, its not a bad idea.” Ethan chimed in. “All she would have to do is move fast enough and go from cover to cover.”

“See! Even the bot agrees me.” she retorted. Reyes sighed as he thought.

“Fine.” he huffed. “But, if you get hit, its on you.”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way.” she replied. Devon secured her rifle to her back and crouched down until she was almost in a tight ball as Reyes explained the plan to each other. “Just don’t shoot my arse.”

“No promises, Dev.” Salt joked. Dev cursed the woman under her breath. When given the signal, Dev sprinted from cover and into the C8’s sight. She did everything she could to keep its attention on her-wave her arms, jump, yelled, shoot, and even pelt it with rubble-while the others tried line up a shot. Each time a round hit the spot, it thinned loudly as if in pain.

“That’s it!” Salt yelled to the others. “That’s the spot!”

“Concentrate fire!” Reyes ordered. The air became thick with semi-automatic fire as everyone open fired on the C8’s weak spot. It wasn’t long before Devon heard the satisfying, high-pitched squeal as the last round did it in. What followed was an eery silence. Devon waited at the bottom of the stairs for everyone to regroup.

“How do these spec, Ethan?” Reyes asked, picking up one of the bot’s shields.

“High velocity center fire resistant with a vision mode.” he explained.

“That’s new.” Devon commented.

“They didn’t have this,” Salter asked as she gestured with her free hand to the bot. “when you were there.”

“The bot-yes.” she replied. “The shield-no.”

“Bad ass armor.” Salt said, as everyone made the movement up the stairs.

“Marines make due.” Omar stated. “We need good men, not machines, Captain.”

“Just take the bloody help.” Devon snapped in agitation. They hung a left at the top and came to a blocked off entry way that lead to Concourse C. Reyes and Salt lifted the shutter up and Dev took point as they began taking fire again. Dev cooked a grenade to the far end where most of SetDef had gathered. On either side of her, Reyes and Salt steam rolled through the front line with the shields, taking out a few. Further up, they heard the whine of another C8. Devon cursed.

“How many more of these fuckin’ things do they have?” she groaned as took cover behind the nearest counter.

“Hopefully, this is the last one.” Reyes replied.

“Knock on wood, Raider!” Salt said. This C8 was less well equipped than its brother, most likely out of ignorance on SetDef’s part. They probably thought the first one would’ve done the job. Bloody brilliant. It take long to take it down, just a few well place shots and frag did it in. On the other side of the door, was the Coast Guard, many of them were badly wounded and in dire need of medical attention. But they didn’t have anything on them except for the standard battlefield first air supplies that was standard issue for every soldier and those wouldn’t be enough. They quickly move through the hall to the security checkpoint and the hanger which laid beyond. Reyes gave them the all clear to use the route behind them to evac the wounded. A shout from the stairs up ahead alerted them.

“Over here! We have incoming enemies!” one of the Coast Guard men shouted from the stairs. A soldier tending to the wounded had jumped up in front of Dev but she pushed him back down.

“Stay.” she ordered. “Wounded need you more.” The soldier gave her a quick nod before turning back to the guard he had been triaging. Devon raced up ahead was the first to return fire as SetDef soldiers raced through the security screening area. She took cover behind one of the check-in counters. She looked to the rear in time to see Reyes pull out something that looked like a smaller version of Ret’s cannons. “What the hell is that?”

“Don’t know.” he replied. “Got off of the C8.”

“Let’s see what it can do then.” she said, raising her eyebrows in a mischievous look. Reyes gave a sort chuckle as he shook his head. The cannon made quick work of the enemy as the concentrate beam of energy obliterate anyone it tracked, leaving a spatter of blood where a person once stood. The sight sent a chill through her body at the thought of what it would do to her. They moved up to a hallway enclosed on the right and above in steel and glass, giving a view of the battle.

“Look out-Skelter!” Salt yelled, as an R-7 Model Skelter pulled up along side the hallways.

“SCAR teams take out the skelter!” Devon ordered, though not in enough time. Two air-to-ground missiles knocked everyone back but the sudden loss in oxygen sucked them out through the gaping hole. Devon held her breath for the fraction of a second it took to pull down her visor. Salt was the first to be sucked out and managed to grab a hold of a bent beam. Reyes flew out next and grabbed on tightly to Salt’s outreached hand. Devon wasn’t as lucky and was thrown hard into the tarmac. A dull pain spread through out her shoulder as tumbled into a large, metal crate. She was thrown farther down when another missile struck several feet from them. She had finally found her footing and skidded to a stop behind Ethan as he stood to catch a forklift that had been sent flying. She hadn’t notice that Reyes had tumbled across next to her until she turned and found him sprawled out with a large crack on his visor. Devon bounced over to him and hauled him back up for the second time that day.

“Come on! We gotta move!” she yelled at him as she got behind and pushed him forward.

“Hanger entry dead ahead, on me!” Ethan called out. Devon looked at their three o’clock as a low, gritty hum of engines caught her attention. The skelter had come back for another round and unleashed its GAMP .0018 Microlite cannon.

“SCAR Two-One, take out the bloody skelter!” Dev ordered again. “Its targeting us!”

“Coming around for another pass, One-three.” Yazzie replied. Devon did her best to steer Reyes clear of the rounds and subsequent explosions. Ahead of her, Ethan continuously called out his O2 levels. As they bounded up a fallen portion of the hallway, Devon looked in time to see the crack getting larger.

“Getting that fucking door open!” she yelled to the Marines ahead. “The crack is getting bigger!”

“Working on it!” Salt yelled. She looked over to Reyes. He wasn’t looking good and was already showing signs of asphyxia.

“Come on, Raider.” she gritted. “You’re almost there!” Dev practically shoved him into the room as Salt, Ethan, and Omar pried the door open. The welcoming feeling of oxygen flooded his lungs as he ripped his helmet off his head just as everyone piled in. He spared a glance at the crack that could’ve very well ended his life before tossing it to the floor.

“Everybody in one piece?” Ethan asked, laying a hand on Reyes’ shoulder. Reyes returned the gesture by tapping Ethan’s shoulder.

“Good to go, Ethan, you?” he asked.

"Full steam, sir.” Ethan responded.

“Ah, Dev?” Salt called out uneasily. “Your helmet.”

“Huh?” she responded, furrowing her eyebrows in confusing. Salt walked over and lightly tapped on a crack, larger than the one on Reyes’ visor. Devon took her helmet off and inspected it. “Hmmm.”

“How the hell did you not see that?” Reyes asked, still trying to catch his breath. She shrugged.

“I guess my training was good for something.” she replied, dropping it at her feet.

“Training, ma’am?” Ethan asked.

“Devon here, use to be an SDF Skelter Pilot.” Salter informed.

“Ugh, don’t remind me.” she replied.

"Bloody well shouldn’t have let you in.” Omar spat, throwing her a duty look. Dev couldn’t help but roll her eyes at him. She knew he was never going to let it go.

“That’s enough, Staff Sergeant.” Reyes order, his tone firm. “Devon has earned her place to fight alongside us.” Omar glared at Reyes but let the topic drop for the time being.

“Earth’s in trouble if we don’t take back the cargo port.” Omar said.

“Can two capital airships hold this airspace, sir?” Ethan asked, as they moved through another set of detectors.

“Negative. They need air-support.” Reyes replied.

“One step at a time. Let’s get the Captain a weapon.” Salt said. “Where do you keep your ordinance?”

“Armory.” the soldier replied. “Just up ahead. Follow me.” They hustled the short distance to the armory, passing by more deceased Coast Guardsman. Devon felt a small pang of guilt form inside her gut. This was her family’s doing and in more specially her father and brothers. They were men so blinded by the cause and so greedy for power and status that they slaughtered the masses-protector or civilian, it didn’t matter to them. These people were in the way of their brutish goal and by proxy, so was she. As Reyes and Dev moved to the inside, Omar checked in Bravo team. Kashima radioed in they were enroute.

“This is our arsenal.” the Guardsman said. “Take what your need.”

“Thank you, Guardsman.” Omar replied. Dev moved to a locker off to her right and grabbed two helmet.

“Raider.” she called out. He looked over to her in time to catch the helmet she’d thrown to him.

“Thanks, Dev.” he said, as they both strapped them into place.

“Shotguns and LMGs.” Salt said. “Right on time.”

“Captain, these shock grenades are very effective against the bots.” Omar said, as he picked up one to inspect.

“Yeah.” Ethan dragged out. “Keep those away from me, will you sir?” Devon chuckled as she move to the hanger door.

“Afraid of a little shock, Ethan?” she smirked.

“Its…more than a little shock, Lieutenant.” he replied, showing a bit fear and uneasiness at her expression.

“I’m good.” Reyes called out, as he strapped a few of the shock grenades to his rig. “Let’s get moving.” Omar nodded to the Guardsman.

“Open it up, trooper.” he order. “This is a counter assault on the base. Let’s get out there and lock it up.”

“Dev, take point.” Reyes ordered.

“Roger.” she replied, moving to the front of the group. She trained her weapon to the space in front of her as they moved forward and into the hanger’s control room. The room was filled with rows of computers, showing the various conditions of their jackals as well as air traffic. Large windows at the front gave a view from high up on the hanger.

“We got allied troops in contact up here.” Reyes said, as an explosion from a frag went out.

“Got eyes on Bravo.” Ethan reported.

“Brooks, Kashima. What’s your status?” Omar asked.

“Taking heavy fire.” Brooks replied. Devon lead the group out into the hanger where they engage C6s from behind.

“We’re at your six.” Reyes informed. “Coming to reinforce.”

“Roger that.” Kash said.

“Bots on the Lower Deck, use your shock grenades.” Salt alerted.

“Rog, Fever.” Dev replied, as she pressed the primer and tossed one to main level. “Cooking them!” The grenade exploded in a flash of arching blue electricity that jumped from one bot to the next, fining their circuitry and shutting them down.

“Six down!” Reyes called out as he picked off a SetDef soldier that jumped down on the opposite end. “Good kills, Dev.” Devon didn’t reply as she went prone and on the walkway and began picking off SetDef furthering inside. Once the immediate area was clear they moved up.

“Staff Sergeant! Sirs!” Brooks greeted as Omar and Reyes jumped down to meet them.

“We’re knee deep in shit, sir!” Kash yelled.

“Harden up, son.” Omar order.

“Kash, this is more like arse deep.” Dev chimed in as she ran up beside him.

“Seems like it, Lt.” he replied.

“You would know what thats like.” Salt quipped.

“Wouldn’t be the first.” she responded. Dev ducked as she heard a bullet whiz over head and took cover behind a guardrail. She peaked through the opening and found the bastard witha EBR-800. “Fucking shite. Sniper! Upper right side!” She ducked again when he took another shot at her. She leaned out the right in time to see him pop up to take another shot and popped him in the face, watching as his head jerked back and his body crumble out of sight. She stayed at her vantage point and took out two soldiers beneath her before jumping down. She had only just touched down on the balls of her feet when one of them rushed her with the butt of his rifled raised to bash her skull in. But she was quick and rolled back into a crouch. She jumped on his back before he could turn to her. She firmly gripped his chin of his helmet and and jerked it hard, snapping his neck. She jumped off of him as his body dropped like a boulder to the floor and brought her rifle up to return fire.

“I’d compliment you, Kotch.” Omar shouted from behind“If you hadn’t have worked with the SDF arseholes before this.”

“Sod off, you bugger. Flattery isn’t becoming of you.” she shot back.

“Both of you-can it!” Reyes shouted from behind them, as she leaned out to return fire.

“His fault!” she shouted back and moved from cover and took out a tango hiding behind a crate. She swung round to the right side where a set of stairs lead up to the other control room. A soldier and C6 emerged from the doorway as she went up. She had hadn’t realized Brooks had come up from behind when he fired on both of them until she looked over her shoulder.

“I have your six, Lt.” he said. Devon nodded as the two moved up the stairs. The two of them stacked up on either side of the doorway and waited until Reyes joined them. Dev handed him a frag to toss in as he opened the door a crack. He tossed it and quickly shut the door to avoid shrapnel. The frag went off and Reyes kicked the door open. The door on the adjacent door flew open and soon the room was flooded with their people. The SetDef still remaining did their best to push them back but were quickly overwhelmed.


	7. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Thank you guys were reading this chapter. As before there are songs that go along with it. The first one is a carry-over from the previous chapter (10 Feet Down (Feat Ruelle) by NF), and the second song is “Beat Saber” by Jaroslav Beck.  
> As always, I hold no ownership or claim over the songs, Call of Duty, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, or its characters-except for Devon. Enjoy!

It was a mad dash to the other side of the room and despite being the second person to enter the room, Devon was towards the back of the group. The Marines in front of her sweated every possible hiding spot and double checked to make sure the bodies were actually dead.

            “Hanger secured!” Omar yelled out as he crouched. “Squad on me!”

            “Dev, hustle it!” Reyes yelled from the door.

            “On it!” she yelled back, as she picked up the pace and jogged it to the door. She caught the look from Omar as she met up with the group. It was mixture of relief and disgust. But she ignored him, like she always did. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the Jackals rising from their holdings below the hanger floor.

            “I see Jacks with our names on ‘em.” Salt said, before turning to the Guardsman stationed at the door. “Let’s get that door open, trooper.”

            “Roger, Lt.” the Guardsman replied as he turned and unlocked the door before moving out of Reyes’ way. Dev chuckled quietly to herself, earning a brow raise from Salt.

            “This is going to be fun.” she said. Reyes pushed down on the lever with almost effort and the door swung open.

            “You got clearance for lunch prep?” Salt asked the guardsman as they flooded the room.

            “I do, ma’am.” he replied.

            “Fire us up for send off.”

            “What’s your course of action?” Omar asked Reyes as they walked to the lift.

            “We’re gonna board a SetDef ship and take it down.” Reyes answered. “Ground phase of the operation is over, SGT. SCARs are goin’ airborne. Time to earn your wings.”

            “You got some spine, Captain.” Omar gritted.

            “What are my orders, Raider?” Dev asked, surveying the jacks as Omar shouted orders for the Marines to stay put. She turned to look at him. “Jackals are twin-seaters.”

            “There are three Jackals out there, Lt.” the Guardsman interjected. “You’ll be good to engage as well.”

            “You’re coming with, Dev.” Reyes ordered.

            “Affirmative.” she replied, jogging to the lift.

            “You think we’d leave you out of an air fight, Devon?” Salt asked as they entered.

            “If it meant holding ground,” Dev shot a pointed looked at Salter. “yes.” As the lift began to move, Reyes paired everyone up: Ethan and Reyes; Salter and Omar. Dev he let fly solo. He knew better and it would borderline on torture if he did. She was a crazy son of a bitch, doing maneuvers that would turn stomachs. He learned that on his first flight with her. Salter faired better, took three flights for her to loose her lunch.

            “Why does she get to go by herself?” Omar asked, tossing his head at Dev who had taken up position in a corner opposite of him.

            “Because no one can sit through her flying.” Salter chuckled. The lift came to a stop and everyone headed for their assigned jackals. Dev’s was at the front and right next to Salt and Omar. She wondered if there was just a little bit of satisfaction coming from Reyes at seeing her and Omar bicker.

            “Don’t be too trigger happy, Devon.” Reyes warned, as she climbed into the pilot’s seat.

            “Fuck you, Raider.” she told him, throwing her middle finger over her shoulder in his direction and scrunching half of her face. Salter chuckled.

            “You know she’s not going to follow through, right Raider?” Salt said “She didn’t obey Raines’ orders.”

            “Never hurts to try.” he replied.

            “It was a waste of valuable oxygen.” Dev retorted as she powered everything up. The hanger was filled with the high pitched whine of the engines as the sound bounced off the walls. The lights dimmed just before the hanger door opened to the chaos that still raged outside. “SCAR Three-One, what’s your status?”

            “We’re getting out asses handed to us, One-Three!” Yazzie answered, almost screaming in their ears.

            “Affirmative.” Reyes replied. “SCARs are prepping to launch from the hanger.”

            “Roger, One-One.” The alarms began to go off as a red light overhead blinked at regular intervals.

            “Nozzles are good. Engines good.” Reyes checked over the radios.

            “Coast Guard’s getting overrun.” Omar said.

            “Tigris needs air intervention.” Ethan reported.

            “One step at a time boys.” Salter reminded. “We secure the base, then we assist Tigris.” It was a nightmare outside, the air was filled with short-lived explosions, Jackals and Skelters chasing each other in a game of cat and mouse. The towers that lined the external runway in front of them, were dark and tall masses that loomed in front of the dreary backdrop of space, giving the impression that torrential storm was on the horizon and coming right for them.

            “Divide and conquer won’t work on this one.” Dev interjected. “Our numbers are too small and their’s is too big.”

            “Let’s thin ‘em out then.” Salter replied. Dev looked over at Salt to see the pilot smiling like the cheshire cat. She remained impassive, knowing the expression was another way to get a rouse out of her.

            “Go for launch.” Reyes said. Dev didn’t need to be told twice as hit the throttle hard and zipped out of the hanger.

            “There she goes!” Salter laughed through the comms. Dev took on the first skelter that had the unlucky business of being in her sights. She took him out with a missile.

            “The only way we’re holding this port is reclaiming air superiority.” Reyes said. “Let’s clean this up and drive SetDef out of this airspace.”

            “Already on it, Raider.” Dev replied as she took out another. There were no shortage of targets to pick from and they were running around like little ants after their colony was knocked over. The Skelters were desperately trying to keep their hold over the port, seeing as they had lost the ground advantage. She knew what would become of those that survived this battle-if they weren’t captured and made it back to Mars. These pilots would mostly be court martialed for defecting from the battle, striped of their rank, and sent off to some place where they and their family would never be seen o heard from again. Devon would know, she had been placed on those escort runs more than a few times. Though, thankfully for her, they were rare. Devon continued to splash targets left and right, almost as if it were too easy. These Skelters weren’t even putting up much of a fight.

            “Let’s stay on ‘em.” Reyes ordered. “We’re pushing them back.”

            “They have reinforcements. Stay sharp.” Salt informed.

            “Two down.” Reyes called out.

            “That all?” Salt joked. “I’m on four.”

            “I see your four and raise you to seven, Fever.” Dev countered, impassively as she blasted another out of the air.

            “What the actual fuck, Devon?” Salt griped. Dev chuckled.

            “I was the first bullet out of the barrel.” she replied.

            “You usually are.” Salt said.

            “Raider, I don’t think these gents were prepared for us.” she called out.

            “Oh yeah?” Reyes replied. “And why do you think that, Satan?”

            “Bloody hell you’re right she’s Satan.” Omar commented, knowing that she would’ve heard it. Devon angled her jackals to the left to avoid her right wing from clipping one of the towers. The Skelter behind her, didn’t do it in enough time and took off half of his, sending the jet into a hard barrel row into the tower to his left.

            “Well, they probably thought the forces that attacked Geneva would have done their jobs.” she explained. “So, they sent a couple of greenies to take the port.” She caught several flashes off to her right and saw a Skelter fire out several missiles heading straight for the Jack pursing him. Thankfully, the pilot shot out his flares and was still able to continue fighting.

            “Their missiles are guided. Coast Guard Jacks aren’t set up for this.” Reyes said. “Tigris, we need something to even playing field.”

            “Roger, SCAR One-One.” Tigris’s Nav Officer, replied. “We have a missile supply drone ready. Mark your position for delivery.”

            “Raider, we’ll cover you while you get the drone.” Salt said.

            “Roger, Salt.” Reyes replied. “Tigris actual, position marked.”

            “Affirmative, supply drone inbound.” Dev keep herself in Reyes’ area and did her best to deter any enemies from coming at him. The supply drone was almost the same as the runway assist drone on Ret. It had thrusters on the underside to keep it afloat and gave steering control. But, instead of another set of thrusters on its back, it had a crate of missiles on top of its arms. The arms extended outward and pushed the payload into the holdings before retracting and flying back to Tigris.

            “That’s cool.” Dev said, looking over at Reyes. He looked back at her and gave a lopsided grin.

            “You look like a kid on Christmas.” he retorted before taking off to catch the nearest Skelter. Devon stay planted where she was at for a moment, confused.

            “Wait.” she said. “What’s Christmas again?” She quickly sped off towards the nearest skelter and let loose her cannon, Salter laughing at her all the way.

            “Three years on Earth and you still haven’t figured out Christmas?” Salt laughed. Dev was slow to respond as she focused on the skelter. This one, was a bigger struggle to take out as the bastard jump around everywhere but her crosshairs. It didn’t help that he tried to fly her into the towers a few times and sometimes the same one.

            “No.” she replied. “Just because I’ve been there for three years doesn’t not mean I know everything about your ridiculous little holidays.” She jerked her jackal again when he tried to fly into another tower. Though, she finally caught him when he emerged form the side. “Yes!”

            “They’re not ridiculous” Salt defended.

            “How?” Dev retorted. “You spend wild amounts of money on gifts that won’t last for very long. Its wasteful. And sometimes-its for a person that you don’t even like!”

            “Oh yeah?” Salt countered. “Well, what holidays does SetDef celebrate?”

            “Fleet Week, Grandfather’s Birthday, and the Anniversary of the Front’s repurpose for autonomy.” she explained.

            “Why not its creation, Lieutenant?” Ethan asked, innocently. She sighed.

            “Because the Front was originally create to quell off-world rebellions.” she explained, tired of this conversation. “It wasn’t until my grandfather took it over that it became the organization it is today.” Dev could hear Omar on the other end mumbling a curse towards her.

            “Actual, what’s your status?” Ferran radioed in.

            “Sweeping up, base is almost clear!” Reyes replied. “Few more left. Let’s X’em out and go help Tigris.”

            “I got one!” Dev yelled as locked onto the remaining Skelter.

            “And I got the other.” Salter echoed. Dev weaved in and out of the tower trying to keep the locks on the skelter, but like the last one, it was a challenge. “Splash one. Dev we’re waiting on you.”

            “Trying, Fever.” she replied. “But, this one doesn’t want to die.” She angled her jackal up to fly above the skelter and gain speed by opening her thrusters long enough to get ahead before diving down and letting off a few missiles. She had to pull hard on the joystick to avoid colliding on the ground. She almost successful except for the underside of the jack scrapping against the ground. Devon gritted her teeth at the loud screech, something that was akin to nails running along a chalkboard. A mid-range clap of explosions burst into the air as two SDF ajaxs made the jump into their AO.

            “Shit, gunship.” a Guardsman cursed.

            “SCARS, we got Ajaxs in the battle zone. Engage those gunships.” Reyes ordered.

            “It’ll be easier if you to go to for the engines.” Dev said. “There’s less artillery and if you blow one, the entire ship goes with it.”

            “Rog. Dev your with me.” Reyes order.

            “Affirmative, Raider.” she replied. “I’ll hit up close.”

            “Rog.” Dev opened her thrusters and gunned it for the nearest Ajax while Reyes and Ethan hung around just outside the gun’s reach, providing covering fire. She turned her jack sideways so the cockpit window faced away from the ship and fired off several missiles. The missile hit one of the rear engines, but did little damage.

            “Damn, I thought one hit would work.” she said, as she swung around for another pass. “They must have added more armor.”

            “Keep hitting them.” Reyes replied. “They can’t keep taking hits forever.” Devon kept bombarding the Ajax with everything she had, coming close a few times to getting hit herself. Reyes and Ethan did their best to keep artillery preoccupied on them. She focused her fire on the engines and in three more passes, the Ajax was obliterated.

            “That’s one down.” Devon called out.

            “One gunship remaining, sir.” Ethan told Reyes.

            “Salt, you and Dev making passes on the Gunship.” Reyes ordered. “Coast Guard, Ethan, and I will draw their fire.”

            “Roger, Raider.” Salt called in.

            “Roger, One-One.” the guardsmen chimed in. Dev zipped up to beside Salt and Omar’s jackal and nodded before they split off to take on different parts of the rear engines. It was a tag-team effort: Dev would fire off a missile and pull back just as Salt and Omar would come in behind her and deliver their own payload. Ethan, Reyes, and the Guardsman slowly destroyed the Ajax’s weapons system, having taken eighty-five percent of it offline by the time it exploded.

            “Hell yeah!”

            “Well done, SCARS, well done!” Omar cheered.

            “Port it secured, Captain” Ethan informed.

            “Affirmative. SCARs, RV for orbital launch.” Reyes put out.

            “Copy that, One-One.” the others replied. Everyone pulled up to Reyes’ position, pieces of the Ajax floating about without course. Dev pulled up beside Salt and Omar.

            “Good work, Marines.” Omar congratulated, as they primed for the launch. “Get a transport set, we’ll link up at the Retribution.”

            “Copy that, Staff Sergeant.” Brooks replied.

            “Good luck up there, Lt.” Kash said, aiming the comment at Salt.

            “Ooh.” Dev smiled, looking to Salt.

            “Oh, shut up!” Salt yelled.

            “Hey, button it up you two.” Reyes ordered. Dev looked over her shoulder to Reyes with a raised eyebrow and stuck her tongue out. Salt laughed as they launched.

            “Ooh, Raider, you’re gonna have to discipline her when we get back to Ret.” she joked. “Dev just stuck her tongue out at you.” Reyes let out an audible sigh. Salt and Dev lead the formation as they climbed, the two exchanging thumbs up to each other before racing to the Moon’s orbit.

            “Raider, Tigris is taking port engine damage. Request immediate support.” Ferran called in urgently.

            “Actual, Raider is inbound to board and disable enemy warship. Stand-by.” he reported in.

            “What’s your infil plan, Captain?” Omar asked as schematics to the _Ares Vallis_ loaded onto their hud. SetDef destroyers were all laid out the same. It saved time on creating a new set of schematics and they would know ahead of time exactly what materials they would need and how much. The same with with the Ajaxs and carriers. The only exception to the rule was the Olympus. But, it seemed Salen was the exception to a lot of things. Three tiny blue dots flew alongside the Vallis’ port side as Reyes explained the strategy: they’ll bail out on the port side bow and clear out enemies on the way to the bridge where they would breech to take it and the combat systems out.

            “Copy. After shutdown, we exit through the cargo bay.” Omar finished.

            “Affirmative.” Reyes said, as an image of Tigris pulling up alongside the Ares came onto the screen, red arrows coming out its starboard and hitting Ares’ port. “Tigris engages when we’re clear.” The briefing finished just as they came out of the launch sequence. Beyond, they could see Tigris amid debris from orbital observation stations and other ships. Devon could’ve sworn she saw bodies floating about too, their shuttles no doubt caught by SetDef as they departed for wherever their destination was.

            “Got our Big Bandit, twelve o’clock high.” Salt announced.

            “Eyes on. Tigris, we’re visual.” Reyes radioed to Ferran.

            “Copy visual. Covering fire!” she replied. Tigris’ rear mounted gun swiveled to cover their rear flank as they went by. Salt stayed at the head of the group and lead them into the assault. Dev hung back behind Reyes, making sure if they were pursued, they would have to go through her first. Salt lead them through the debris field, funneling through whole portions of destroyed ship parts.

            “Watch your flak!” Salt warned, as small pieces of debrief pinged off their jackals.

            “You know, Boss is not going to be happy with all the dings she’s going to have to buffer out these.” Devon reminded.

            “I’d rather have Boss be mad at me than dead.” Salt retorted. As they exited the bulk of the debrief field, they caught sight of the Ares. The weapons systems did too as it shot wildly, hoping to get them.

            “I see it!” Reyes said. The Coast Guardsman in the jackal flipped into Dev’s one o’clock view before being obliterated. A large chunk, the wing most likely, shot past her cockpit, tearing her jack like cool butter.

            “Whoa!” she yelp as she tried to avoid other pieces.

            “Coast Guard jack is down!” Reyes yelled. Their jackals buffeting around the closer they got to the Ares as its smaller cannons tried to pick them off.

            “Drop zone’s coming up!” Omar announced, as they pulled jackals to skim the top of the ship.

            “Boost out in three, two, one. Go, go, go!” Salt yelled. The three of them turned the noses to point towards the ship as the cockpit windows opened and they pushed themselves out. “One-Two is away!”

            “One-one, away!” Reyes reported in. Dev grabbed her NV4 from her rear holster as she pushed herself harshly out of the seat.

            “One-Three, away!” she chimed in. The space around them was filled with cacophonous cannon fire as the Ares’ multiples turrets and missiles fired at their jacks and warships.

            “Bridge dead ahead, sir!” Ethan called out. They hadn’t bailed out too far from the bridge, but they were already facing heavy resistance as they floated to cover. Tangos began to flood out of just every opening there was

            “Rog, let’s get there!” Devon used her grappling hook to get her to cover quicker as the bastards took every chance they could to gain a shot on her. When she peaked out from cover, her HUD would track each enemy with a orange box. She grateful for the update the techs dd before all this shit went down, their asses would be in deeper trouble than it already were. The SDF troopers were less coordinated as they let the zero gravity move them. She could see the advantage, because they moved around so much, they were a harder target to track and thus harder to fire on. But the draw was they were never behind cover and in the end, that drawback costed them their lives. They leap frogged it like in Geneva, moving up piece by piece to clear everything out the section out. It was slower than what it usually was as they took fire Skelter’s making passes over them. Reyes called for Tigris to suppress them and the destroyer did the best she could. Devon caught movement to her left and saw a tango floating up from one of the opens. She had begun to raise her rifle to fire at him when she saw the grappling hook. She aimed at the soldier and used it to pull him towards her. Once she had him, she gripped the edge of his visor and it ripped off, pushing him away to suffocate to death.

            “Now we’re talking!” Salt cheered behind her and used the move on a soldier close to her. They continued to their movements to the bridge, taking out tangos left and right. Reyes used his grappling hook as well. But instead of ripping the protective mask off, he activated a frag grenade attached to the unlucky soul’s rig before pushing him away. The soldier vanished in a short lived explosion of fire and blood. Salt made it to the bridge first followed by Omar and Ethan. Reyes and Devon brought up the rear. Salt and Omar took up a position on the starboard side of the bridge while Ethan and Reyes took the port. Reyes had looked over his shoulder to Dev and motioned for her to follow him. She was grateful, having avoided confrontation with the Staff Sergeant.

            “Their blast shield are up.”

            _‘Speak of the devil.’_ Dev thought.

            “I’ll short circuit them.” Ethan called out. Reyes readied himself with a blast charge as he hacked into the Ares’ computers The shields suddenly lowered, revealing the entire bridge in front of them. Some of the SetDef bridge members scrambled to get away from the windows as they saw Reyes place the charge and activate it. At the Captain’s console she could see the ship’s commander, Bradley Fillion, yelling to the others. She had only met him a handful of times, but knew enough know. Though, she had been in the business of knowing information. The charge blew the window out, sucking shards of glass and people into icy space. Once the entry was clear they moved in. She caught of glimpse of Fillion struggling to catch his breath as he flared about mid-air, before his body went limp from asphyxia. Life support systems kicked in the instant the bridge lost pressure and put up oxygen from the vents overhead.

            “Force in. Let’s go!” Reyes yelled. “Staff Sergeant cover the entrance. Ethan, shut down primary weapons. Dev, Salt, scope the windows.”

            “Aye sir.” Ethan and Dev said simultaneously. Dev took up a position at the window she had entered and Salt with her window. She struggled to keep herself from floating out, bracing her feet against the adjacent window and lightly pushing off. She hadn’t noticed that Ethan had reneged gravity until she almost fell flat on her ass. She looked over her shoulder to the bot and glared at him.

            “Warning next time!” she hissed. Ethan turned his head sideways.

            “Sorry, Lieutenant.” he apologized.

            “Oh, tough it up, Martian.” Omar chided.

            “Fuck off, pillock.” Dev shot back.

            “Enough.” Reyes said firmly, shooting looks between the two.

            “It ain’t gonna happen, Raider.” Salt laughed as she walked up to Ethan. Reyes merely shook his head and went for Fillion’s ID card. Dev was about to pass the man as Reyes went for the card when Fillion sprang back to life. It was a struggle as Fillion enclosed his hands around Reyes’ throat, madness and murder showing brightly in his eyes. Devon was the closest to react as she unsheathed her knife and plunged it into Fillion’s jugular. When she withdrew it, she and Reyes were sprayed with arterial blood. creating irregular patterns across their visors. Fillion’s hand slacked as his blood and resolve quickly drained from his body and began a messy pool on the floor in front of him.

            “Captain are you alright?” Ethan asked, as he came up beside him. Reyes nodded still in shock.

            “I’m good.” he breathed. “Thanks, Dev.” She glanced up at him as she put her knife back into the sheath, acknowledging the thanks. She tossed her head to the lift as if to say to get a move on. Reyes gave a small nod as went for Fillion’s ID card again. Thankfully, he didn’t spring to life again. She hung back for a bit, a shine catching her eye. It was Fillion’s cross. She yanked it from his neck without a second thought, snapping the thin metal chain and stuffed into a pocket on her uniform.  “Tigris Actual, primary weapons are down. Moving to secondary.”

            “Roger that.” Ferran replied, as Omar opened the elevator’s door. He and Reyes were the first down, followed by Salt and Dev. It would’ve been Ethan, but he was being a “gentlemen” by motioning for her to go first. Dev shot him a suspicious look but went anyways. By the time the three were at the bottom, Omar already had the door open and was scouting well ahead. The onboard announcer was squawking over the speakers nearby about them being onboard. They were close enough to the main hall that Dev could hear the heavy footfalls of the soldiers as they ran to their stations. Omar lead them down to the end of the maintenance hall, taking a left and coming to a ladder that lead down to another service tunnel.

            “Combat control’s through here.” Ethan reported as they came upon a mesh door.

            “Roger, get it open.” Reyes said, nodding to Omar. The Staff Sergeant opened the doors as quietly as the squeaky wheels would allow. Devon held her breath, waiting for gunfire to spring up from below. But, they never heard it and so the group continued. They came out onto an ledge that overlooked a portion of the room. She had chuckle silently to herself and shake her head. These guys were getting denser and denser. She couldn’t figure out how they hadn’t been spotted as Reyes took out a frag grenade. He looked up and down the row at all of them and nodded before tosses it and letting chaos rain down.

            To say the soldiers were surprised was an understatement. Most of the poor bastards were caught in the frag’s damage area and those that went went still with shock. But that split second freeze cost them their lives as they Dev and Omar open fired on them. It was the quickest ambush she had ever done, the bullets only went way and none of them were hurt.

            “All clear!” Omar called out as they swept the room for any surprised.

            “Go to work, Ethan. Shut down secondary weapons.” Reyes ordered.

            “Check.” he bot responded as took the strides to the control panel. He looked behind him to Reyes. “CO’s card opens the board, Captain.”

            “Right.” Reyes said as moved quickly to the other side. Dev caught the uneasiness in his voice and hesitation in steps and wondered for a moment if he was having trouble getting use to be called Captain or the shock of what happened earlier in Geneva. Either way, it was bad sign to Dev. The two worked diligently to get everything they could think of as a threat turned off. “Weapons are locked off. Let’s go!”

            “Sir!” Ethan called out, looking at the board in the middle of the consoles. “I found something else.” The screen changed from the load out of the Ares to a holographic projection of the entire Sol System. Spread out across the map were enemy positions.

            “Looks like enemy warship positions.” Reyes said.

            “Dev, did you know about this?” Salt asked, looking from the board to Dev. She shook her head.

            “Negative. It might be a new or wartime protocol.” she informed, studying the screen.

            “Can you pull it?” Reyes asked as he looked across to Ethan.

            “Already downloaded, sir.” the bot informed, already moving away from the console.

            “Solid. Let’s go!” Reyes ordered. “Tigris Actual, weapons are down, moving to exfil.” The dour jogged with the door where Omar stood guard and was down the corridor towards the Mess Hall. It was at the intersection that they ran into trouble when two SetDef soldiers rushed him. Devon saw Omar struggling with the one and sprinted to him. She jumped on the soldiers back and got above him, gripping his chin and gave it a hard jerk to the side. The soldier’s body dropped to the floor like a weight had been tied to him. When she turned around, she saw Ethan had kicked the other guy through the mess hall window. Omar walked over to the body and gave a curt nod.

            “Good work, Ethan.” the Staff Sergeant said.

            “Bravo Zulu, Sergeant.” the bot replied. Devon glared at him as he walked away from her.

            “Yeah, you’re welcome, too.” she grumbled. Reyes gave her a sympathetic look and tossed his head down the hall.

            “SCAR team, be advised, Ares is spooling to jump form the combat zone.” Ferran warned. “Get your team off that ship now, Captain.”

            “How much time do we got?” Reyes asked, as they moved through the dark hall cautiously. They didn’t want to be jumped like before and keep their eyes and ears peeled, periodically jumping as sparks exploded from exposed wiring. The door leading into the other hall was eery and made Dev’s nerves jumped as it moved to close but stoped and moved back.

            “Three minutes max!” Ferran said.

            “Ah, fucking hell.” Dev cursed, shaking her head. “We’ll have to double time it if we went to get out of here with minor dings.” They were met with gunfire as a patrol met them at the end of the hall. Dev pushed herself to the wall, though barely touching it, and returned fire. Ahead, the others did the same but kept moving.

            “Tigris Actual, go weapons free.” Reyes said.

            “Roger.” she replied. “Danger close. Danger close.” Reyes spurred everyone on as the timer showed up in the HUD.

            “Reyes!” Devon yelled. “Observation room to the hanger is going to be dead ahead. Likely where the bulk of the enemy is going to be. Advise to toss a couple of frags!”

            “Roger, Dev.” Reyes yelled back. They rounded the bend in the hall and was met with gunfire, sending everyone scrambling for cover. But, Reyes merely lift the muzzle of his rifle and put two rounds in the tango’s chest before moving on. They reached the Observation’s room door and stacked up. Dev was behind Reyes and handed him two frags. He nodded a thanks as he took the grenades and slowly opened the door. He opened it just enough to get the grenade through before quickly shutting it. On the other side, they heard the surprised yells of the men as the grenade went out and killed them. Reyes kicked the door open and they flooded the room. Devon raced to the front of the room and looked frantically around the hanger for the cargo bay door’s locking mechanism.

            “There!” she yelled, pointed to a smaller room across the cargo bay. “Across the room!” Reyes jogged up beside and followed her line of sight, seeing what she was pointing to.

            “Alright let’s get a move-one!” Reyes yelled. Dev wheeled back and fell ass over head as a C12 fired at the room’s window.

            “Actual, the Ares jump is imminent.” Ferran warned. “We can’t hold back any longer!”

            “They’ve been holding back?” Salt joked.

            “You think they weren’t, Salt?” Devon asked, as she stacked up behind her.

            “Let’s push to the control room. Move out!” Reyes ordered, nodding to Devon. She nodded back and punched the door’s switch. The door opened and they began taking fire.

            “Think we got their attention!” Salt yelled, as she and Dev took up position along the railing. Devon popped up and return fire as they shuffled along the walkway, careful not to step on each other’s toes or knock on another down.

            “I think that’s an understatement, Lieutenant.” Ethan chirped. Dev looked to her right when she heard a burst of gunfire and saw that Reyes was pinned down behind one of the crates.                “Salt cover me.” she alerted, as she took out an anti-gravity grenade and chucked it. The grenade exploded in a ring of electric blue that lifted the soldiers up in the air. They flailing their arms as they were lifted by the seemingly invisible force. It was actually quite funny, watching as grown men who had been train from a young age to kill, move about frantically like a distressed fish. But, the entertainment ended Devon put a bullet in their heads and their bodies fell to the floor. Salt looked her shoulder and hummed.

            “Never knew they bounced when they fell.” she commented. Dev looked over her shoulder with a sly smile.

            “It was more of a flop than a bounce.” she retorted but Salt shrugged her shoulders.

            “Still funny either way.” she said. Devon rolled her eyes as she moved from behind the railing. Her eyes flickered to the timer as they moved forward. _1:30_. Shit, they needed to pick up the pace. A bullet ricocheted off the railing next to her as a trooper squared down behind at pillar at two o’clock and fired at her. Devon never broke stride as she took out the tango.

            “Minute and thirty!” Reyes yelled out. Devon took cover behind a crate when the fire began to concentrate on her. She peaked around to gauge how to take them out when a round landed near her head. She jumped back to cover and cursed.

            “Sniper!” she yelled out. The others scrambled for cover but kept firing.

            “Its her!” one of the soldiers shouted. Devon cursed, they knew her.

            “Reyes, things are about to get dicey for me in a second.” she said over the radio. “I might need back-up.”

            “Too much for you to handle, SetDeffie?” Omar sneered.

            “Ah, can it you nutter!” she groaned as she sank lower behind the crate as more bullets rained down. “They bloody well know who I am. The damned council probably put my photo out before the invasion.”

            “I’ll cover you, Dev.” Reyes said.

            “Roger.” she replied. “And SetDeffie? Where’d you pull that one out? Your mum’s arse?”

            “You can’t fault the Staff Sergeant for changing up the name calling.” Salter quipped.

            “He doesn’t get to be a part of that game.” Devon shot back. “That’s between you and I.”

            “You don’t like an extra person in the game, Dev?” Salt asked. Devon shook her head.

            “I prefer to keep it between the two of us.” she replied. Salt laughed.

            “Dev, the sniper’s out.” Reyes announced. “You should be good.” Devon peaked over the edge for a quick glance and scrambled out from her spot.

            “Affirmative!” she replied, returning fire and glancing every other bullet at the timer. _1:00_. Fuck. They were going to have to push harder if they wanted to make out in time. “Reyes, we gotta go! Less than a minute!”

            “Let’s go, let’s go!” Everyone sprang up from their covers and pushed forward, not daring to stop when the fight heated up. They finally made it at the forty second mark, though were still taking heavy fire from a well fortified C12. “Depressurizing! Hold on!” Devon ran inside the control room and hung onto the edge of one of the consoles as Reyes pressed the lock release and pulled the lever down. The doors jerked open, causing a suction that pulled everything towards it. Crates and personnel were pulled back like an invisible string was attached to them and someone outside had tugged on it. Both Reyes and Devon were nearly pulled out as the bay loss gravity and oxygen. They didn’t let go of their anchors until the door was nearly full.

            “It’s open, let’s go!” Omar yelled, as he let go a there stair’s railing and jetted to their exit.

            “Tigris, we need birds!” Reyes said, letting go of the bay door controls and taking out his Volk. Overhead, the alarms began to echo throughout the hold. It was a particular sound she hated, more than the sound of her brother’s snobbish voice. Whenever they did military exercises, the damn things would go off, giving her a pounding headache later.

            “Copy, sending Jackals.” Ferran replied. Through the absence of air, Dev could still hear rifles being firing. She looked across to the other side and found a few of the buggers still kicking.

            “I’ll cover you!” Dev shouted, as she brought her sight up and fired.

            “Don’t be too long, Dev!” Reyes shouted back. It was a weird ballet of sorts as she tried to move to avoid being hit but still enough to take the shot. A bullet, no matter how good the gun was, didn’t travel very far when there was no gravity. The absence reduce the range and sometimes even the efficiency of the wound. She kept track of the others as they floated past her and went external, firing back at anyone who dared to target them. “Devon, come on! We’re almost to our jacks!”

            “Roger!” she responded, stashing the rifles and turned head over ass towards the lock. She could see her jackal just out of view of lock as she floated in. She looked at the timer again. It would be cutting it close, even for her. She pushed her pack to the limits and nearly collided head first into the bird, but stopped just short and climbed in. “I’m in!”

            “Set. Turn and burn!” Reyes ordered. Dev quickly switched on all of the jet’s guidance systems and jerked away from the Ares’ hull just as Reyes gave Ferran to green-light to fire. “Tigris, SCARs are clear!” It was a sight when they managed to pull back some distance. All of Tigris’ cannons are giving it her all as she unleashed her fire into the Ares’ port side even as it tried to pull away for the jump.

            “Copy clear!” she responded. “Engaging. Weapons loose!” It didn’t take long for Ares’ to explode in massive fireball. The shockwave was enough to push their jackals farther out. Devon had to wrestle with the with the joystick just to keep from going into a barrel roll and loosing control.

            “Hell yeah!” Salt cheered as she pulled her jack towards Retribution’s runway.

            “Good effect on target!” Omar said, jumping on the minuscule celebration.

            “We’re going to have to be a hell of lot farther from the Olympus when it goes out.” Devon commented.

            “Naw, I think the Security Council will want to put it our arsenal.” Salt mentioned.

            “I don’t want that thing in anyone’s arsenal.” she shot back, thinking to herself all the while. “I’ll hang back while you land.”

            “Roger, Dev.” Reyes replied. She kept her position at Tigris’ rear, already absorbed in her thoughts as she watched Reyes and Salt’s Jackals land. It was a bad habit, particularly after a battle and would borderline on a medical condition that could sideline her. Sometimes, she could keep it in check and even hide it away. Others times were harder, especially if there was loss involved. She inwardly laughed at herself as she thought about how soft she was becoming around the edges since defecting to Earth. These thoughts never infiltrated her mind before then and wondered if it was because she away from the overbearing authority of her commanders and family or if it was just the effect Earth had on her.

            “SCAR One-Three you are clear for landing on runway one.” the Tower Mini-Boss informed over the radio. Devon sighed.

            “Roger, Tower.” she replied as she steered her jackal for the runways.


	8. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No song for this chapter. I hold no ownership or claim to Call of Duty, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, or its characters.

Devon listened to the radio frequency with numb ears as Ferran and Reyes conversed. Their only partner in action was now prepping to leave the AO for their next operation, leaving Retribution to recoup and handle their’s. She could still understand the conversation even without fully listening in, her mind dividing itself to listening and thinking. Ferran was right-they were Earth’s only defense now, the only chance the planet had. It made Devon sink into her seat just thinking about the statistics and the probability of them succeeding in this war. Her brain couldn’t compute even the slimmest chances and it made the matter all the more worse. She hadn’t noticed that she was already off the runway and being turned around, her body having gone to autopilot like so many times. The jarring of her jackal nor the cacophony of equipment could shake her from her thought. That is until Raines came over the frequency.

“Commander Reyes, STRATCOM decrypted a fleet transmission form Admiral Kotch broadcast six hours before the attack.” Raines reported.

“Roger Admiral. Go ahead.” Reyes said. Devon braced herself for whatever her brother was up to, which usually meant no good. The feed that showed on her HUD jumped around, intel no doubt had trouble decrypting it by the way parts of the image went in and out. Her brother-still prideful as ever-was dressed in his battle-ready uniform, a hard shell comprised of the dark colors of a fleet commander. It was different outfit from the one she and Raines observed on Wolf’s helmet cam. Salen would’ve known she’d see the feed and to avoid alerting leadership of what his choice in fashion meant, chose that of a “peace-time” suit. She studied the background, catching the C6s in the background, saluting him. She could see the various panels and consoles, leading her to believe the broadcast was done form the bridge. She files the information way in her brain to be used for later.

_“Today the Front embarks on a conquest. Here and now we will eradicate the authority and influence of the Earth!”_ Salen wasn’t shouting exactly but his voice was more than firm, full of conviction. But, his pacing and looking around, told her otherwise. He wasn’t pacing to keep his audience attention nor looking around to meet the eyes of those under him. No. It was something else. Was he nervous? Nervous of what? _“Our world is just beginning. Their’s is dying! It is not enough to break free. We will break them! Their cities will burn along with the pages of their history. Mars aeternum.”_ She fucking hated that saying. Devon leaned back further in her seat and rubbed her face in annoyance as Raines took over the conversation. She hadn’t noticed that she was already in the hanger until Salt called out to her.

“Dev, you alright?” she asked, a drop of concern in her eyes.

“Fucking Salen.” Devon mumbled before giving Salt a quick smile and shaking her her head, disembarking from the jackal. “But I see I did damage to that pretty little face of his.” Reyes laughed and looked at her in disbelief.

“That was you?” he asked, pointing a finger at her. She nodded.

“Aye. When I was trying to escape, Salen tried to keep me on Mars. Tossed me into my own mirror. Took a shard and slashed his face.” she said, with evil smile.

“Damn.”Reyes said as they walked the lift. “Remind me to never piss you off near a mirror.”

“That’s an understatement.” Boss said, joining in on the conversation. “Oh, and you boarded an enemy airship?” Gibson looked between the trio in surprise.

“Cannot confirm nor deny that, Boss.” Reyes said, gingerly shaking his head.

“I’ll take the as a yes.” she said, as he passed her on his way to the lift.

“Take that as a hell yes.” Salter said with pride.

“Making all kinds of history today.” she commented.

“Not exactly the good kind, Boss.” Devon commented. Boss dipped her head to the side as she started to walk away.

“True.” Dev gave a small smile as the doors closed and the lift began to move.

“Hey, got a question for you.” Salt asked, looking at Devon expectantly as she leaned against the railing. Devon nodded for her to continue. “What does ‘Mars aeternum’ even mean?” Devon looked her with a mixture of confusion and disbelief.

“You don’t know?” she asked.

“If I did, would I really be asking you?” Salt asked, flipping the question.

“Maybe you like hearing the sound of my voice.” Devon shot back. Reyes laughed as Salt shot her a dirty look.

“Ah, you’re so full of it!” she griped.

“She got you there, Fever.” Reyes said, still fighting through his laughter.

“Wait,” Devon said, quickly pushing herself off the lift’s railing. “you do?”

“Pfft, no.” Salt defended, looking almost offended in the process. Devon rolled her eyes and shook her head at the act, knowing Salt enough to know she was lying.

“Okay, you tell yourself that.” she joked. Salter’s mouth dropped, her eyes wide as Reyes’ burst with uncontrollable laughter. Her reaction brought smile to Devon’s face. Oh, how she loved messing with her. It made it better because Salt usually couldn’t tell if Devon was joking or being serious. Devon glanced over to Reyes who was doubled over and clinging to the railing for dear life.

“Salt your face…” he tried to say, fighting through the fit. Devon shook her head again she halted the lift. There was still work to do and she still had orders from Raines. She heard Salt sputter behind as she exited, Reyes nearly done with his one good laugh for the day.

“Where the hell are you?” Salt asked. Devon paused, one foot already off the lift, and swirled her upper body.

“I have to do the dossier of Salen.” she calmly replied, before exiting the lift fully. The hall leading to Retribution’s main communications hub was a mess. Wires poked out from walls and drooped from the ceiling. Panels are were laid haphazardly around as technicians and engineers worked round the clock to put the ship back together again. It was messier than the hall leading to the armory, but then again, she had only saw a small portion. Here she was seeing the full scale of the physical damage. There were other wounds, those not easy to see even to the trained eye. Those would take time, longer than the Retribution’s repairs.

Workers nodded greetings to her if they dared, her reputation proceeding her. If they did, she returned the gesture with a nod of her own. Most, though didn’t bother, preferring to keep off her radar and continued on with their task. Devon continued stepping over the various tools and equipment, muttering apologies as sent went. She felt one of her uniform pockets grow heavy as she walked and fished around inside until she found the culprit.

It was the necklace.

She had completely forgotten about in the midst of the fight and reviewing Salen’s transmission. The thin chain looked like it could barely hold the Celtic cross that hung from it. Devon had feared that while it was still in her possession, it would break further and she would loose the main piece. The cross itself was simply designed. There were no fancy engraved signs air even a name etched into the back of the metal. A ring of equal simplicity was center just behind the cross. Devon could see within the grooves Mars’ red sand mixed into clumps with Bradley’s blood. She should’ve cleaned it before going to see Father Michael. But, it was too late to turn back, she was nearing the Chaplin’s office.

Necklace was a religious symbol, something she thought Bradley had left behind along with his family when he join SetDef. It had been one of the things confiscated off of his person when he first taken into custody when he landed at the main port. Her first encounter with the man was behind an observation window while he was being interrogated by one her teammates. She had been the one to go through his personal effects and anything taken directly off his person. She had inspected his wallet-something she had found useless as it carries paper currency, identification, and one personal photo-his UNSA ID card, and the necklace. She had asked him about after he had been cleared the higher ups what was so special that he kept it on it at all times. But, he told her to ‘fuck off’ and left. When she arrived at earth, she had been visited by Bradley’s brother and Retribution’s onboard Chaplin, Father Michael. He had introduced himself and she was quick to draw the similarities between the two men. He confirmed her suspicions right away and never shied away about the topic of older brother.

In the beginning, she didn’t have much trust for him, wondering if he would defected like his brother. But, that suspicion was unfounded and she felt ashamed for even thinking it. Michael was a much more compassionate than Bradley, caring deeply for those under his command and others. Devon had it easier to talk to him than to the shrinks she was made to see after her hospital discharge and the two would talk endless on family, drawing similarities and differences between their childhoods. It was one of the few times she enjoyed talking to someone about something other than work and it helped to strengthen her bond with those around her. She knew of a few times where Alder and the shrink tried to pry those personal sessions out of him. But, the Chaplin refused, saying it was confidential and he would not betray her trust as so many had before him. She thanked him afterwards, knowing if he, she would ended up on mandatory leave for another psych eval.

She stopped in front of the Chaplin’s door, trying to come up with a way to tell him about his brother’s demise at her hands. Michael still cared and worried for his bothers, even if the feeling wasn’t mutual. She had caught him several times praying at the small alter behind his desk to his God to show Bradley the light. But, it seemed now that is brother would see nothing. Devon inhaled deeply through her nose and exhale through her mouth, preparing herself as she opened the door. Father Michael was the only one in the office, going through papers and notes the others had brought in.

“Ah, Devon.” Michael greeted with a warm smile. It reminded her of her grandfather when she was young girl, back when everything seemed so innocent to her. “How are we today, my dear?” Devon stayed silent as she looked down at the floor and chewed on her lip. She raised the hand in front of her that held the necklace and waited until he rose his. When he did, she slowly lowered it into his palm. She heard Michael shudder as he felt the cool metal hit his palm.

“I’m sorry, Chaplin.” she apologize still looking at the floor. She saw him nod as he injected it.

“Thank you, Lieutenant.” he said.

“You’re welcome, Father. Thought you might want it back. Maybe ship it back to your parents.” she said, finally looking up into his sad but still smiling eyes. “I’ve heard they’ve been worried.” He nodded again.

“Aye. Since he left us for the SDF, our father was trying to figure out if he did something wrong. I wondered that a few times myself.” he thought out loud. Devon could tell by the look in his eye and how he stared off into space that he was reminiscing about happier times with him and decided she needs to excuse herself to grieve. But, he was still paying attention to and saw the slightest movement to the door. “Where are you going?” Devon paused in her step and opened her mouth to answer, but nothing came out.

“I need to speak with the psychiatrists about coming with a dossier of how Salen works.” she said, looking him straight with straight but sorrowful eyes. Michael had nothing but sympathy for her.

“That can’t be easy…” he began, taking a step towards her. “rooting around in your brother’s head.” Devon exhaled as she shuffled her feet. She did not want to have this conversation with him.

“He’s not my brother. Isemay made that very clear in the transmission she sent after I defected.” she replied, mentioning the wrench by her name.

“But, you are still blood.” he retorted. But he caught the warning look in her eyes and decided to change the subject. Though, it was not one she wanted to hear either. “You will need to rest at some point from it.”

“I’ll rest when I kill Salen.” she said, her voice filled with malice as she harshly pulled the door open and left. She did her best to quell her anger she walked the short distance form the Chaplin’s office to Communication. It helped…a little, though not not enough to the point her anger didn’t make the communications specialists in the room lean away from her when she entered.

The communications office was the at the very end of the hall and served as the main hub for the entire ship. There was a smaller portion on the bridge, but only handle the transmissions and communicated with the other department onboard. The hub itself handle all communications activity on the ship. They tracked every call that was made, every email shuffled out to each department, and directed the calls to their proper destination. There were cubicles set up along the east side of the room where sailors and Marines could make video calls home to family during their allotted hours. Devon couldn’t make such calls as anyone who cared about was on the ship and her real family had essentially wiped her from their memories .

Situated at the far back of the hub, was the conference room.It was large enough to hold a small meeting with the ship’s leadership if need be was secure so if the Admiral or STRATCOM needed to speak with leadership, they could do so without anyone wiretapping. It was a real concern after an incident with one of the destroyers when an SDF spy had been found hovering outside the hall with a recording device that could hack into the communications link. After the man had been caught and prosecuted, leadership had every conference room set up with emitters that obscured any non-authorized leaderships devices. The room was also equipped with a speaker set in the middle of the table to conference call anyone in as well as a flat screen on the wall for face-to-face conversation.

A specialist seated at a terminal near the entrance, informed her the psychiatrist and STRATCOM were already set up in the conference room and were waiting for her. Devon merely gave a nod of acknowledgement as she passed the youngster on her way to the room. When she entered, she found they were already talking amongst themselves, going off the little evidence they had garnered from the video about her brother.

“Lieutenant Kotch.” Raines created from the screen. Devon glanced up at him as she carefully lowered herself into a chair.She knew it was for formality purposes, but that didn’t mean she had to like it.

“And where have you been?” head UNSA Psychiatrist, Rear Admiral Anaé Vidal, chided. Devon squinted at the speaker phone.

“Mind your own earwax.” she shot back.

“That’s not even-.” she growled. “Oh never mind.”

“Lieutenant Kotch, what can you tell us about your brother?” a member of STRATCOM asked.

“Well, he’s pompous for one.” she began.

“Obviously,” Vidal interjected. “Everyone that confidently broadcast out to an entire nation about tearing down a whole planet six hours before the actual invasion.”

“He’s also calculating.” Devon said, nearly cutting the man off.

“Psychopaths usually are.” a member commented off to the side.

“He’s not a psychopath.” she said, almost sounding like she was defending him. It caught the others off guard. “A psychopath doesn’t clues-am I right, Rear Admiral.”

“Yes, that is true in most cases.”

“He wants us to know that it is him. That all this destruction is by his hand.” Devon continued. “He looks at an operation and works within himself with leadership every possible event that has a likelihood of occurring, no matter how small.”

“But, you can not account for every possibility.” Raines argued.

“He knows that. But he still tries to plan for what he can think of.” Devon shook her head. “He will not go through with an operation if he didn’t see a viable victory or an acceptable loss.”

“And what would be an acceptable loss by his standards, Lieutenant?” she was asked.

“What happened over Earth when Olympus made the jump.” she answered quickly. “He did not complete his objective of taking us out and gaining control over Earth. But, he did destroy nearly all of our fleet and the ATTIS is offline. That is an acceptable defeat.” Members of STRATCOM leaned back in their seats and thought of the information she had just presented. It was almost near quiet and Dev swore she could hear the turmoil going through the speakers.

“Anything else, Lieutenant ?” Raines asked. She nodded.

“Yes, sir.” she responded and tapped a few keys. She brought the beginning portion of Salen’s broadcast and replayed it for everyone to watch.

“Yes, Lieutenant.” a member said, agitated. “We’ve seen this already.”

“Looking at his movements, his body language. The way he looks back and forth.”

“So?” Vidal huffed. “He’s addressing a cheering crowd.”

“He’s nervous.” Devon informed. “There’s something else we’re not seeing, a piece of information we’re missing.”

“What could he be nervous about?” She shrugged.

“He could’ve received a threat from High Council or Command.” she offered. “Maybe his position is at stake if this doesn’t go the way they want it to.”

“Is that idea really viable?” Raines asked. She shrugged again.

“Is the Front, Admiral.” she said. “Anything is possible.” She paused to think of anything else that might spook him. She knew one other reason but wasn’t prepared to share it nor bring any harsh memories back tot he surface. She was interrupted for a brief second when she caught Ethan talking to the specialist outside the room. She couldn’t make out what they were saying and lip reading was impossible because he had no mouth and the headset mic obscured the specialist’s mouth. Devon turned her attention back to the screen, catching Raines’ eyes.

“I know that look, Devon.” he said, calling her out by her first name. He never did that, especially in front of a group like STRATCOM. They turned their heads to him when he did. “What’s going through the brain of yours?” Devon exhaled.

“He could be nervous because of me, sir.” she stated before quickly jumping back into the conversation. “You all know what I did and the training I’ve been through while in the Front.” The men bristle at the thought.

“Yes, we know.” Raines said. “Anything else?” She shook her head.

“Not that comes to mind, sir.” she responded.

“Rear Admiral Vidal, anything from you?”

“No, Admiral.” she replied. “This will be enough the begin the psychological profile and if I need anything else I will contact the Lieutenant.”

“Alright.” Raines said. “Let’s get back to kicking SetDef’s ass, laddies and gentlemen.”

“Yes, sir.” they all replied. Devon leaned back in her chair after before lines of communication ceased and let out a frustrated sigh. She could already feel the beginning of a headache and knew it from stress and dehydration. She glanced out the corner of her eye and found Ethan waiting patiently for her. He was waiting for her and wasn’t going away anytime soon. Knowing she was just postponing the inevitable, Devon pushed herself up from the chair and left. He was on her the moment she stepped out of the conference room.

“Lieutenant, may I ask questions about your time on Mars?” he asked, blocking her path. Devon stopped dead in her tracks and gave him a hard stare.

“I’d rather not.” she said with a shake of head as she attempted to move around him. But, stepped in her way again. The bugger was persistent, she’d give him that.

“Please?” he asked, like a small child wanting to be tucked in and told a bedtime story. She closed her eyes and sighed.

“Fine.” she caved. She opened her eyes and look up at him. “But, I will need coffee first.” Ethan followed her to the mess hall like a lost puppy, hoping to be her pet. If she wasn’t so tightly coiled and in a bad mood, she’d silently entertain the thought that it was borderline cute. Thankfully, the mess hall was vacant despite it almost being chow time. Devon guessed everyone was still trying to put fires out. She gestured for him to take her usual spot at a table in the fire corner while she walked over to the coffee machine to grab herself a cup of dark liquid. When she reached the table, she saw he had taken her usual spot and gestured wildly with her hand for him to switch positions. He tried asking questions before she had even taken the first sip, but stopped him before he could utter syllable. He still had a lot to learn about her. She tipped the styrofoam up just enough for a sip before placing it on the table. She savored that sip.

“What do you know of Mars?” she asked, staring down at the table. Ethan was silent for a moment as his internal processor gathered textbook information.

“Harsh climate. Extreme cold and the soil is not best for growing food. It also has a longer year-687 days to Earth’s 365.” he stated. “The geography is pitted with craters, sand dunes, and mountains.” She was impressed. For a robot he knew more than most. She nodded and took another sip.

“The people? The government?” she asked.

“Mars is controlled by the Settlement Defense Front, or SetDef. Its original mission was to enforce martial law on Earth’s off world territories when the colonies started getting restless. They turned on their creators and ignited the Succession Wars. It raged for two years before the Charon Accords where they won sovereignty from Earth.” he said, sounding like a history teacher reading out a textbook to his students. “The SDF is a militaristic society with authoritarian roots. Status is based upon loyalty. Military service is mandatory for males starting at the age of twelve and…voluntary for females.” She heard the hesitation on the last part, and wondered if he attempting to tread lightly about the topic around her.

“Very good.” she applauded before taking another sip. Ethan tipped his head to the side.

“What was your role in SetDef, ma’am?” he asked.

“Skelter pilot.” she answered matter-of-factly.

“Women are barred from front line combat positions.” he responded. She smirked.

“That’s where I’m special.” she replied.

“How?”

“My last name.”

“Kotch?” he asked. She nodded. “I don’t understand.” She sighed and set down her coffee.

“Why don’t you search that servo-computer chipped brain of yours.” she said, leaning into the table. He was quiet for a moment as the circuits fired off with his search of information. When he finally found what he looking for, he stared at her.

“Salen Callum Kotch.” he said. She blinked and smiled.

“My grandfather.” she nodded. “He started this whole shite-fest.”

“So, because of your grandfather,” Ethan began, putting the pieces together out loud. “you were allowed to go into a front line position.”

“It wasn’t without trouble.” she said. “I had to go through a battery of test before my case went before High Command and the Council. It took some time but, eventually I got in.”

“How old were you?”

“Fifteen.” she answered, a bit too quickly. Ethan was struck for a moment by how young she had been in relation to Earth’s age of service. She had been fighting probably longer than the Captain or the Lieutenant.

“How does Intracore figure in?” he asked. He saw the instant reaction to the group’s name. Even years later, the training still gave her nightmares.

“I went through Intracore training at eighteen.” she answered, slower than the previous answer. “It wasn’t something I wanted to do. But, the order was from High Command and I had to follow it.” She paused to let it all sink in for him. “It was…a dark time for me.”

“Why was that?” he asked, wondering slightly if he was intruding or making things worse for her.

“When you go through Intracore training…” she began. “they put you through most of the tactics you will later employ on the prisoner. Its meant to harden you, make you unbreakable.”

“Why not all of them?”

“You don’t…show you hand until the very end, I believe the saying goes.” she said, looking off to the side. She didn’t mention to Ethan that it was her mother and eldest brother’s idea as well of making her quit the service and become a “real Martian woman”. Ethan thought of the statement and what it meant hidden under the words. He approached it with caution.

“So, you were essential tortured.” he stated. She gulped and nodded slowly, some of the memories coming to her. “Did you ever use your training?”

“Aye,” she answered, hesitantly. “several times.” Devon tried to keep herself together as her haunts and fears threatened to take over. She knew if they did, she would go back down that path again and she didn’t know if would find the strength to go back from it again.

“Lieutenant Kotch to the bridge. Lieutenant Kotch to the bridge.” Gator called out over the ships’ intercom, breaking her ominous thoughts. She growled.

“I bloody hate it when they call me that.” she mumbled under breath. She knocked back the last of her coffee like it were shot of whisky or vodka before crushing the cup in her hand and standing. “Later, mate.”

“Thank you for the talk, Lieutenant.” Ethan replied as she walked away. “It gave me a better insight to the Front.” Devon paused at the door and gave him one of her rare smirks.


	9. Chapter 8

The ride was mostly silent, save for the continued pounding of hammers as it raised her up to the bridge. She would have preferred taking the stairs but she got the impression Reyes needed her there ASAP. The lift finally came to a stop at the top though not inside and she had momentarily forgotten which one she had taken. She once again passed the lounge area, glad to see it had been cleared of casualties. Though, evidence of the pop-up clinic remained. The puddles of blood had already dried, making the only way to clean them up was to scrap them off the floor. Soiled gauze, wrappings, and towels pilled up along the wall along with plastic bags that once contained IV bags. Devon did her best to ignore the sight and continued onto the bridge. One would have thought with the amount of death and destruction she had witness during her time in the SDF would have made seem like an everyday occurrence to her. True sometimes it was, but other times… Other times she found it hard, especially when she took into account the kind of people they were and the fact they had families waited for them back in Earth. Devon pushed down hard on the lever-and her thoughts- and opened the door.

When she walked in, she found Gator had already pulled up the map of their next mission: an Earth Orbital checkpoint and from the looks of it, it was already in serious trouble. There were several ports orbiting around Earth, each one strategically placed over a major Earthen hub. They were an added layer of protection against potential attacks and served as immigration and customs checkpoint. Some were built to accommodate a specific task: Checkpoint Alpha was the main immigrations hall; Checkpoint Bravo was for cargo; Checkpoint Charlie was primarily for Military purposes.

“Hey, Dev.” Salt greeted, looking up momentarily from the console to her.

“Hey, Salt.” Dev sighed, coming to stand beside Reyes. “What do we have?” She saw Reyes’ look out of the corner of her eye, hearing the exhaustion in her voice. She wondered for a moment if he was going to say anything to her.

He didn’t.

“SetDef destroyers engaged a critical Port Operations outpost.” Reyes began, “A squadron of friendlies is defending, but they need reinforcement. We loose that outpost…”

“We can’t get resources in.” Devon finishes looking to Reyes. He nodded.

“So we got hit at three different locations on the same day.” Yetide commented. “How is that possible?” Devon braced herself against the console as she thought.

“They must have lowered the drafting age again.” she mumbled.

“Again?” Salt asked. Devon nodded.

“It was sixteen when I left.”

“What do you think it is now?” Reyes asked, turning his body so he partially faced her. She shrugged.

“Fourteen, fifteen.” she said. “Hell, maybe twelve again.” Salt’s eyes widened.

“Twelve!” she practically screeched. “When the hell was that?”

“The War.” Devon replied, nonchalantly. “Jargo fought in it and he was only ten.” She had never really thought of age when it came to military service until she arrived on Earth. She had thought they were recruiting too young and even mentioned so to Reyes and Salt. But, she steadily noticed that there was a difference in attitude: Earth was comfier and the people less prone to premature death, thus military recruitment started much later. As the case with Mars and other SDF colonies, life was a bit harsher and the lower classes were subjugated to rationing for the majority of the military. It was also engrained into SDF children from birth to always served the Front.

“Shit.” Salt breathed.

“How does this affect our chances?” Reyes asked. She shrugged again and pushed off.

“Even more manpower against us. But, it’ll probably be down on the ground instead of up in the air.” she paused. “Which means we’ll be fighting children at some point.”

“Great.” Salt sighed angrily. “That’s all we need.”

“Let’s deploy and disable those destroyers.” Reyes commanded, bringing them back on task. Devon nodded to him before turning and heading to the lift. Once the doors closed and they began to move, Reyes confronted her. “There’s more to it, isn’t there?” Devon looked over at him with a raised brow, knowing full well what _it_ was. She sighed.

“Yeah. A lot more.” she replied. “Though not all pertinent to the mission”

“Overall or this one?” Salt questioned. Devon rocked her head from side to side as she thought.

“This one.” she answered.

“You mentioned child soldiers.” Reyes reminded. “Is there anything else?

“Yeah.” Devon replied, reluctantly.

“You hesitated, you never hesitate.” Salt commented.

“We’ll be dealing with the _Filii bello_.” Devon said, answering much quicker this time. She knew if she hadn’t, they would’ve just pressed her for more information.

“The filii-what?” Salt asked.

“ _Filii bello_.” Devon repeated. “Its Latin for ‘Children of War’.”

“SetDef has a special unit for child soldiers.” Reyes commented. Devon nodded.

“They’re the best of the child soldiers.” she said. “Trained in espionage, sabotage, ambush, you name it.”

“So, they were like a spy network.” Reyes commented.

“Kind of.” she replied. “They served both behind enemy lines and on the battlefield. Children are able to move faster and the enemy doesn’t suspect children trying to gather intel.”

“And your brother was part of this during the War?” Salt asked.

“Unfortunately.” Devon replied, pushing herself off the railing as the lift came to a stop. Salt took point and lead them to the armory. Devon had a standard load-out on her jack-30mm mounted gun and 50mm Pathfinder. There really wasn’t much to choose and it was more of a welfare check on their jacks than a load out. “I don’t understand why we needed to come here.”

“Redundancies, Dev.” Reyes replied as they walked to the hanger. Devon sighed and rolled her eyes as she seated her helmet. The hanger was loud as ever as they jogged from the lift to their Jacks. Devon listened absently to Salt and Reyes converse as she worked through the motions of powering up her jack.

“Captain, Lieutenants, be advised-SATO Jackals are taking heat.” Gator informed. “Jumping directly into the fray.”

“Copy that.” Reyes replied. “I’ll need fire support from Retribution.”

“Aye, sir.”

“Tell them the calvary’s coming.” Salt said.

“SCARs tower advises caution due to stray debris.” the Tower Mini-boss advised.

“Check 1-1” Reyes replied.

“1-2.” Salt echoed.

“1-3” Devon said, following behind.

“All for one and one for all!” Salt loudly cheered, as they were loaded onto the runway.

“The last I remember there were four in the musketeers.” Devon reminded her.

“That’s where Ethan comes in.” she replied.

“Ethan’s not here.”

“Yes I am.” Devon jumped slightly in her seat as Ethan’s mechanical voice filled her ears.

“Where the hell are you?” she asked, looking around in the cockpit and in the runway for any sign of him.

“On the bridge.” he replied.

“Great.” she huffed. “What do you have access to?”

“Everything.” he replied

“Shit.” Devon blurted out.

“Hey,” Salt yelled, “that’s my line!”

“Well I’m borrowing it.” Devon said, as the engines began to whine.

“Can you even do that?” Reyes asked with a half-hearted laugh.

“I just did.” she mumbled. Devon turned her attention back to the runway as engines’ muffled whining filled her ears. She heard the tower countdown as she thought on _Filii_. She wondered if they had the age lower than twelve and what that could mean personally for her-and she knew even if she didn’t want to admitted it, even to herself. She was taken slightly off guard as her Jack thrust forward and down the runway. The signal lights of the runway blurred passed her on either side in reds and mustard yellows until finally she was met with the dark blue hue of space and its twinkling stars.

For a moment at least.

Devon followed suit with the others and turned the nose of her jack up and to the right, almost immediately coming into sight of the station. She looked behind it to Earth to gauge which station they were fighting for. She could the red sandy grounds of northwestern Australia, contrasting deeply with the blue of the ocean and the various islands that made up Indonesia and Malaysia. That meant that this was Outpost Bravo. She had never visited either of the three and didn’t care to. She saw no need and it unless to her. She had said as much to Salt and Reyes when the two had previously talked of places they would like to eventually visit. They had turned the question to Devon, curious if she was interested. But, she had given an unconventional answer: watching her family burn. She hadn’t meant it in a literal sense but more in destroyer the legacy her grandfather had built up. They had taken her answer as literal and reported her to the psych. She had been mad at them for several afterwards as she had been grounded pending another evaluation.

“Multiple SDF capital ships.” Gator’s voice brought her back to the present as she gazed at the three circular outposts, one of which was halfway destroyed.

“We got skelters.” Salt announced.

“Retribution, hit their destroyers with everything we got.” Reyes ordered Gator. “SCARs, Iron’s hot, let’s strike.” Devon had begun to turn the jackal to the left when a flash of red shot out in front of her. She heard the high pitched screech as metal scrapped against metal.

“Oh, its on you fucker.” Devon gritted, as she turned tailed and chased after it. As soon as the skelter was in her crosshairs, she engaged the lock-on sequence and tried to hold on to it. But, the skelter turned up and towards her, trying to pass over her head. The movement was typical SDF flight maneuver and one that every pilot-no matter their job-knew how to do. Devon anticipated it and jerked her nose down and around so she flew under the skelter with the jack’s belly pointing up. She corrected herself and rode the skelter close enough to keep a lock but far enough that her jack didn’t take any burn damage from the thrusters. She shot off a 50mm round just before braking off, not staying around long enough to watch the fireworks. Though it wasn’t long before alarms went off. She looked down at the console to see a skelter had locked on to her. She immediately shot out flares and rolled left to try and shake them.

It didn’t work.

Devon jerked the jack around wildly, trying her damnedest to break his sight on her. The skelter was not letting up. She tried to fly haphazardly through the debris, hoping their wing would hit a piece of debris and send it spiraling into another. Again, it didn’t. But, she got an idea as she exited the debris field and decided to act on. She would have to execute as exact or it could spell disaster for her and any else around her if she wasn’t careful. She waited until the skelter was right on her ass to jerk the joystick. The resulting movement made the jack flip up and over the skelter. She jerk the joystick in a circular motion which spun the aircraft as if the nose had been held in place, almost like pin-point on a wheel. She came back to righting herself behind the skelter and was able to watch as the skelter collides with the port side of a SetDef ship. The entire maneuver made it look as if some had kicked the rear of her jet while holding down the nose. Not wanting to stay around and be fired on, Devon did a hard barrel roll to the right before righting herself and scanning for her next target. She found it nearby and raced off to catch up.

“Never seen you use that one, Satan.” Salt commented, through the comms. Devon smirked.

“New move. I think it scares the skelter pilots.” she replied.

“You ain’t kidding. Scare me.”

“Thank God neither of us fly with you.” Reyes joined in.

“Are you trying to say something, Raider?” Devon asked, accusingly.

“Not to your face. I would like to live past this battle.” he replied. Devon heard Reyes suddenly curse.

“What?” she asked. “Reyes, talk to me.” She looked out the cockpit and saw Reyes take off with a skelter on his tail.

“He’s gotta a lock on me.” Reyes replied.

“On it.” Devon responded, pushing the joystick forward harshly. She followed the skelter further back than the last but still close enough that if he did a sudden change in direction, she could compensate for it and be back on his tail. “Raider, I’m firing an missile. Be advised.”

“Roger, Dev.” he replied. Devon did her best to keep her jumpy target within her HUD’s target field. The bastard made it difficult, but she managed. She fire once he moved into her crosshairs. The skelter shot off his flares and broke his lock on Reyes, knowing she would give chase. She chased the him in between the steel column bracers. The bracers acted more like anchors so the the terminals surrounding the hub at the middle didn’t float away or cause strain on the walkways. She hadn’t realized Salt snuck up on their left until the skelter exploded in short fireball. Devon had to jerk the jack into a nose dive to avoid her wing scraping against Salt’s.

“Hey!” she yelped. “You could have warn me.”

“Sorry, Dev.” Salt apologized. “I saw the shot and took it.”

“Ugh.” Devon rolled her eyes.

“Dev, do a gun run on a destroyer and get it started.” Reyes order. “The rest of us will mop up the remaining skelters.”

“Copy that, 1-1.” she answered. Devon scanned the battlefield for one and found a destroyer too close for comfort near one of the undamaged ports. She opened up the throttle and gunned for it. She swung around its stern, taking care to avoid its fire before pulling back to just out of range. The silos opened, however, despite her attempts and the jack’s alarms wailed. She pulled the joystick towards her, causing the jack to jerk back a few kilometers while she fired off the flares.

“Careful, Dev.” Reyes warned.

“Aye, I know.” she groaned. Devon set about blasting each gun and cannon the destroyer had with her own, hovering around the destroyer as she went. She took satisfaction in seeing the flames erupt as another one was destroyer. When she was sure there were enough was destroyed, she began making passes on the engines. It only took two shots before the destroyer’s back-end exploded, setting off a chain reaction that raced to the bow. Through the deafening of the explosion, she could hear Salt cheering.

“Yeah! Now, thats what I call fireworks.” she said.

“Well, anything that does explodes is technically.” Devon replied.

“I need back-up.” Reyes called out. Devon looked over in time to see Reyes shoot off flares a dodge several missiles.

“Coming to you, Raider.” she replied, cutting across to him.

“I advise you pull back to a safe distance, sir.” Ethan said. “At least until your system cools down.”

“Roger that, Ethan.” Reyes replied.

“I’ll stay with you, Raider.”

“Thanks, Dev.” Devon turned to look out her cockpit and gave Reyes a subtle nod, letting him know she wasn’t leaving his side. He returned it, acknowledging her commitment. It didn’t take long-maybe a minute at most-before everything went back to normal. “Let’s do this.”

“SCARs, be advised, 1-1 and I are re-entering the fight.” Devon said, as she and Reyes flew back in.

“Copy, 1-3.” Devon found her target as it zipped several meters in front of her and took off. It was instantaneous that the skelter tried to turn tail and fly right at her as soon as the system had locked on. She, too, turned tail and followed it, opening up her 30mm to let out a barrage ofbullets. Several found their mark on the skelter’s rear thrusters, causing a stream of flames to come out the side. Devon put some distance between them to ensure she was not caught in the blast.

“They’re on me again.” Reyes called out. Devon glance out the cockpit and saw Reyes being chased again. Devon cursed but broke off her pursuit for Reyes’ chaser.

“SCARs, provide cover for 1-1,” Devon ordered. “I’ll get the skelter.”

“Roger, 1-3.” one of the pilots replied. “2-2 and I will provide cover.”

“Solid copy.” Devon answered.

“Damn, they’re really on it today.” Salt mentioned. Devon gunned it for the side of the skelter and fired off warning shots to get it to loosen up. Once, it did she locked on. “Raider, pull back I got him.”

“Roger, 1-3.” Reyes replied. Devon chased the skelter through the wreckage, its tail wiping from side to side as it took sharp turns. It was difficult to stay on him and every time she let a round out of the barrel, the bastard would turn the opposite direction.

“Fuck.” Devon breathed.

“Having a hard time?” Salt asked.

“Bastard turns just as I fire.” she replied. “Its like he knows when I’m about to do it.”

“Go at him at a different direction.” Salt suggested.

‘ _That wasn’t a bad idea.’_ Devon thought. She followed the skelter again, lining up the shot and waited until she thought he would turn. When he did, she turned too and let the 30mm. The bullets ripped into skelter’s side, tearing the body and leaving little holes where oxygen leaked out. The skelter rolled uncontrollably until it spiraled into the remains of the SDF destroyer.

“I see my idea worked.” Salt said smugly.

“I never said I doubted you-.” Devon replied.

“Ah, fuck.” Salt cursed, cutting Devon off.

“What?” she asked, scanning the are around for Salt.

“He’s got a lock.” Salt replied.

“I got you, Salt.” Reyes replied. “Dev, get with the other SCARs and help Gator take out that last destroyer.”

“Roger, Raider.” Dev said. Devon zipped off to the last destroyer, the flamers already spurting out of some of what had been its guns. She took stock of who she had left and how many before formulating a plan. “SCAR 2 and half of SCAR 3, I want you firing on its cannons from afar with Ret.”

“Roger 1-3.” Yazzie replied, taking his team and spreading out.

“The rest of SCAR 3, you’re with me to make gun runs on the engines and bridge.”

“Yes, ma’am!” SCAR 3 team leader leader replied. Devon came within firing distance of the destroyer before she issued the command.

“Alright, let’s finish up and get back to Ret!” she yelled. She could hear the others cheering as she pushed the joystick forward. She positioned half of what she had to make passes on the engines while though with her, made a bee-line for bridge. Devon flew over the silos, heading straight for the bridge. She cut is close as got within a just a few meters before she fired off the missiles and flew upwards. It didn’t take long for the skelter’s alarm systems to go off, warning her of an impending explosion.

“SCARs, I advise an immediate pullback.” Ethan said. “The destroyer is going to blow.”

“Roger, Ethan.” Devon replied. “All SCARs pull back to Ret. Gator finish them off.”

“Aye, 1-3.” he said. Devon brought up the rear of the group and watched for a moment as Ret.’s silo opened up and let out their own missiles. She saw the explosion in t he reflection of the jack’s cover, the short burst of colors illuminating the inside of the cockpit for a fraction of a second. The roar drowned out the celebration of the pilots with a defining roar.

“Dismissed!” Salt cheered, once the noise had subsided.”

“Final destroyer is down.” Gator announced. “Zone is clear of enemy aircraft. Station is secured.”

“Outpost is still in allied hands.” Reyes said.

“Thanks to you, 141.” Salt thanked.

“We have some Aces of our own up here.” Gator replied.

“Sure do.” she said. Devon sagged in her seat and let out a breath. They were done. For now, at least.

“Mission accomplished, let’s get off the X.” Reyes ordered. “Fever, takes us out.” Devon watched the others go before her, even waited for Reyes and Salt before she angled towards home.


End file.
